After almost ten years of writing her autobiography, 86 year old Monica Carter has finally received her book in print. Monica, who has lived in Ross-on-Wye for 25 years, was born and educated in Sweden. Her autobiography, which is thousands of pages long, was entirely written in her second language.

Monica grew up in Sweden, and she lived there for the first 21 years of her life, with her mother, father and three sisters. Her father was a priest, but he was also an author and a poet; he had his work published in local newspapers.

Monica met her husband, an English man, Martin Carter, at a dance. They were both visiting Skansen; the world’s oldest open-air museum in Stockholm. Martin worked as a General Manager for a Swedish firm called AGA.

Martin was working in Calcutta, but he was on a six-month leave period when he visited Skansen, where he met his future wife. Martin, who did not speak any Swedish, approached Monica, and asked her to dance. Monica did quite not understand what he was saying; although she was studying English, she did not especially enjoy it. However, she agreed to dance with Martin.

They danced two dances together, and he walked her home. She was living in the nearby hospital, as she wanted to become a nurse. “We got on well.” Monica told the Gazette.

“When we met the next day, the first thing we said to each other, was to ask for each other’s name,” Monica laughed.

Martin and Monica got engaged just before he returned to Calcutta, in the August. The following year, in the April, Monica flew out alone to Calcutta to meet him, one week before they married.

“When I left Sweden, my father told me: ‘Write up what you are doing,’” Monica explained.

They were married in a Scottish Church, in Calcutta, and Monica wore a traditional white dress. “It was very hot,” Monica said. “It was 104° Farenheit.”

She added, “You don’t know how lucky you are here, it’s never too hot, and it’s never too cold.”

Martin and Monica lived together in a flat in India for three years. “You just could not get away from the heat.” Monica said. She was quite poorly with dengue fever, and various tummy problems, so she was quite glad when Martin got a job based in the UK. First they moved to Richmond, and they eventually ended up in Garway for seven years, and then they moved on to settle in Ross.

Martin would still sometimes have to go abroad, as a result of his job, and sometimes Monica would get to go with him. “We had an interesting life,” she said.

The couple travelled all over the world together, they visited Indonesia, Canada, and Japan, to name just a few.

“I’d been talking about writing my book for years, and my daughter asked:?“When will you start?” so I did. I started on the same day my mother died.”

For more than nine years, Monica would get up at 5am to write for two hours every day, before everyone else woke up, so she would not be disturbed. She did not write every day, she would often take much of December off, and some time in Spring, because there was so many other things to do. But fairly regularly for ten years, she got up early and wrote.

Martin died six years ago. Monica’s friends have helped her a great deal since he passed away, so as a thank you, she plans to give away copies of her book to some of them. One of her friends, William Hazleton, helped Monica a great deal by sorting through her photographs to accompany her writing.

Monica’s granddaughter also helped a lot during the writing process, to proof-read and edit the story; Monica wanted it to be correct, and as English is her second language, she felt it was important to take extra special care. Monica has written a thank you to her granddaughter and William at the beginning of her book.

She is thrilled with the job the publisher, Logaston Press, did with her book, they got the pictures in the right places, and they added an extra special touch; Skansen Press has been added to the book’s cover and spine, as an homage to the place where Monica and Martin met.

If anyone is thinking about writing their memoirs, Monica advises: “Allow yourself time. Write a couple of hours before breakfast, it is always helpful. And check what you say is right.”