Diplomatic Baggage

the Adventures of a Trailing Spouse

Author:

Brigid Keenan

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No one understands how hard it is being a diplomat's wife - except perhaps another diplomat's wife. Brigid Keenan begins her light-hearted and eminently readable book, recalling 30 years travelling around the world as the wife of an EU Ambassador, with the story of a letter she once received.

"'Dear Ms Keenan,' it said, 'I want to tell you how much I admire your courage and strength and resilience.' I was glowing with satisfaction: here at last was someone who understood the sacrifices we ex-pat wives make. But then the author asked for a signed photo, which seemed a touch over the top, even to me, and then he mentioned my ordeal in Beirut, and I realized that the letter had been delivered to the wrong Keenan."

Keenan is evidently well-connected, describing her life as a young journalist on The Sunday Times and The Observer in London, where she was made up by Estee Lauder and held photo shoots with Marie Helvin.

And it is perhaps rather difficult to feel sorry for a woman whose major worries include finding decent servants and unravelling the etiquette of hosting dinner parties; whose ex-pat days seem to be filled with coffee mornings, shopping and charitable work; and who is able to send her children to the best British boarding schools.

To her credit, Keenan is endearingly self-deprecating, and as she whinges her way across continents, it is her ability to laugh at her own mistakes and insecurities which elevate the book from a dull, self-pitying memoir to a vivacious and engaging dialogue with the reader.

An archetypal upper-middle class English woman, Keenan finds herself thrown into new lives in Belgium, Ethiopia, Trinidad, Barbados, India, Gambia, Syria and Kazakhstan. "I know exactly how it feels to be an autumn leaf... detached, insecure, tossed helplessly around ...You arrive in a new place all naked ... and friendless and vulnerable, you gradually build up a little world around yourself and then, bingo, you are suddenly sent off to the other side of the world to start all over again."

As she battles with homesickness and builds a new life for herself in all her new homelands, Keenan learns to appreciate the joys and privileges of her ex-pat life, and is of course as sad to leave each post as she was to arrive. She brings to life her experiences by painting vivid images - both funny and poignant - of the people and places which became part of her life as a trailing spouse. We meet her steady, serious, diplomat husband (known only as 'AW'), her two adored daughters who transmogrify into teenagers from hell, battalions of international dignitaries and, most memorably, an army of household staff who, in the best Fawlty Towers tradition, provide much of the comic interest

Keenan also gradually comes to terms with giving up her own job as a London journalist in order to follow in the footsteps of the countless trailing spouses who over the centuries have followed their partners around the world. This book confirms that the most valuable asset for this life is an irrepressible sense of humour.

Make no mistake, this is no literary masterpiece. It will, however, certainly provide an entertaining read beside the holiday poolside this summer.

Reviewed by Vicky Aldus

Extent	320 pages	Sub. No.
Size	N/A	Price	[?DiscountedPrice:?]
Format	Hardback
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