Married to Bhutan
SynopsisPlot
Tucked away in the eastern end of the Himalayas lies Bhutan-a tiny, landlocked country bordering China and India. Impossibly remote and nearly inaccessible, Bhutan is rich in natural beauty, exotic plants and animals, and crazy wisdom. It is a place where people are genuinely content with very few material possessions and the government embraces "Gross National Happiness" instead of Gross National Product. In this funny, magical memoir, we accompany Linda Leaming on her travels through South Asia, sharing her experiences as she learns the language, customs, and religion; her surprising romance with a Buddhist artist; and her realizations about the unexpected path to happiness and accidental enlightenment. For over ten years, Leaming has lived and worked in the town of Thimphu, where there are no traffic lights and fewer than 100,000 people.
Story
About this book
Bhutan sits at the eastern edge of the Himalayas, landlocked between China and India. It is a small country known for measuring national progress through a policy called Gross National Happiness, a framework that prioritizes well-being over economic output. Linda Leaming, one of a small number of Americans to have settled there, writes about the years she spent living and working in Thimphu, the capital. At the time of writing, Thimphu had no traffic lights and a population of fewer than 100,000.
The memoir follows Leaming through her wider travels in South Asia and her gradual adjustment to daily life in Bhutan. She describes learning the local language, observing customs and Buddhist religious practices, and building a relationship with a Bhutanese artist. The book traces how an unplanned path led her into a life she had not anticipated, shaped by a culture where material simplicity is ordinary rather than aspirational.
Leaming writes with humor about the practical difficulties and surprises of settling into a place that remains difficult to reach. The book offers specific, lived detail about a country that most outsiders know only through distant reputation.
