Living with a Dead Language: My Romance with Latin

After an illustrious career in publishing, discovering authors such as V.C. Andrews, Patty retired to the country and, realizing she needed to keep her mind active, embarked on a quest to learn Latin. She tackled this as doggedly as anyone could, over a five-year period, taking classes at Vassar College and Bard College, eventually enlisting in immersion weekends and study abroad (in Rome, no less). Along the way, readers who love language and words are treated to a minute dissection of the grammar, use, and history of Latin. Those confused by noun declensions or harassed by tenses might gloss over those parts. For true philologists, this will be like nectar to bees. Patty mixes her language study with snippets of memoir; her desire to learn Latin rooted in memories of her mother. This highly personal story includes fascinating bits about the inner workings of publishing and religion and meditation practices.