One wrong move sends a U.S. Army combat journalist’s life spiraling dangerously out of control in Years Becoming: The Novelized Memoir of a Veteran Harlot – the true story of a professional liar and the consequences of losing one’s life for love.
After Blanka Stratford is discharged from the military for violating the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, she is convinced she had made the right decision to be with the woman who seized both her heart and her career. But Blanka soon finds out that nothing is fair in love or war. In vain attempt to maintain both a writing career amidst a faltering economy and the affection of the one person who had brought her to her knees, Blanka sells the last item she has left to offer – herself. As she enters New York City’s underground world of drugs and high-class prostitution, she struggles to remember the person she had once been. Her lies become further entwined by the betrayal of an old military acquaintance, a charming sycophant who proves that not all that glitters is gold. With vengeance in mind and the aid of three friends, Blanka implements a profitable scheme to con the world. When she departs for Europe to fulfill her plan, however, three obstacles stand in her way: a wacky Polish family, a Spanish woman bent on winning her love, and an eccentric Russian rebel, who brings Blanka back to life at the same moment he aims to take it away. Split into two halves symbolically placed side by side: Part 1 “The Truth of the United States” and Part 2 “Lies in Europe,” this first-person account - covering timely topics such as the Iraq War, GLBT issues and Russian espionage - will leave the reader in laughs, in tears and in disarray.
