This is a fascinating book. Katie Hickman is herself the daughter of a diplomat and his wife, and her mother's letters to her were the inspiration for writing it.

It's a collection of stories and memoirs of the women who followed their husbands to diplomatic postings all over the world, and their lives both on the road and in the embassies. While the men were off being politicians, the women had to settle into a new culture, often with very little resources and not speaking the local language, and had to create the kind of home that the British Ambassador ought to have. They wrote home often, and a lot of the book is drawn from their letters to their family and friends. They talk about their children, and the house, and the culture, and the people they associated with... all the details of home life in strange places. They all seem to have been barmy, but in the nicest possible ways so as not to offend anyone.

You won't find much on their husbands' careers or politics here but it is a fascinating piece of social history. A wonderful book which I read by chance and couldn't put down.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This is going by post, and hopefully will not get lost over Christmas!

A really interesting book covering centuries of diplomatic lives, right up to the present.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

On the corner of Silver Street and Trumpington Street

Sorry, made a mistake in the release notes - this book will be in a telephone box at the corner of Silver Street and Trumpington Street.