When Laurinel Owen’s husband, Klaus, died, her life unraveled…
She found out Klaus was married to another woman, and Klaus’ first family sued Owen for half of the assets the two had accumulated throughout their 22-year relationship and 17 years of “marriage.” Owen, an international cellist and journalist, hired attorneys on three continents — and lost.
For years, she had to tell and retell her story. “It was like picking at a scab that wouldn’t heal,” Owen said. Finally, she wrote it down, and in doing so, found a way to heal herself and provide others who’ve been betrayed with the reassurance that healing is possible.
“When I started writing my memoir, Strings Attached, I thought my purpose was to know who the man was who had betrayed me so badly,” Owen said. “Then I realized I needed to know who I was to allow that to happen. Now I know, it’s for you, who have been betrayed.”
Owen had nursed Klaus through a lengthy illness that eventually led to his passing. It was only after his death that Owen found out Klaus had never divorced his first wife. But that wasn’t all. Klaus had bilked her out of thousands of dollars and was the son of a Nazi murderer who had fled the United States amid FBI accusations of being the head of the American Gestapo.
Strings Attached: A Memoir of Betrayal, Bigamy, and Self-Discovery begins as Owen arrives in apartheid South Africa on Christmas Day 1980, eager to discover where her cello playing could take her. From the stage, she saw him for the first time. Their life together was bliss until he invited her to the family vacation home: When she knocked, his wife opened the door. Shocked and saddened, Owen returned to the states. Klaus would later find her in America and tell her he had, indeed, divorced his first wife. Owen trusted him, and the two were married and lived together for 22 years. Upon his death, his daughter from his first marriage announced: “My parents were never divorced.”
“Betrayal is universal. Mine was extreme,” Owen said. “I want to support and inspire others in pain and show them that there is a way through their difficulties.”
With honesty and vulnerability, Owen invites readers into her multi-faceted tale of deceit, self-deception and the high price she paid for living in denial. Her husband’s transgressions spawned a three-continent lawsuit that Owen had to navigate while bearing the weight of the shame, guilt and anxiety she carried over her part in the real-life drama.
Though music was her anchor, Owen also found healing through various traditional and nontraditional modalities, including psychology, hypnotherapy, acupuncture and meditation.
Strings Attached aims to inspire anyone who has loved, been betrayed, and is seeking recovery and support.
Strings Attached: A Memoir of Betrayal, Bigamy, and Self-Discovery
Publisher: Koehler Books
Paperback: 352 pages
ISBN-13: 979-8888243947
Available from Amazon.com
