The beloved Sunday Times bestseller - a touching,hilarious,often outrageous memoir of home-making and family adventures in the world's furthest outposts'Hilarious,and utterly beguiling - it's a complete treat to be in Keenan'switty and open-hearted company'Esther Freud'Deliciously effervescent'Sunday Times 'Brigid writes like a dream...fabulous'Joanna Lumley'Irresistible'Mail on SundayWhen Sunday Times fashion journalist Brigid Keenan married the love of her life in the late Sixties,she had little idea of the rollercoaster journey they would make around the world together. For he was a diplomat - and Brigid found herself the smiling face of the European Union in locales ranging from Kazakhstan to Trinidad,and asking herself questions she never thought she'd have to ask. How do you throw a buffet dinner during a public mourning period in Syria Where do you track down dog fat in Almaty And how do you entertain guests in a Nepalese chicken shed Negotiating diplomatic protocol,difficult teenagers,homesickness,frustrated career aspirations,witch doctors,and giant jumping spiders,Brigid muddles determinedly through - with no shortage of mishaps on the way.'There are not many books that have actually made me cry from laughing,but this is one of them'Sunday Times
MEDIA REVIEWS
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLCISBN: 9781526654915Number of pages: 320Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
Perfect...surprising,astute,brilliantly observed and very humanThirty years of far-flung postings later,she has acquired enough farcical experiences to make this memoir irresistibleA wonderful picaresque take on the travails of expat life,and an absolutely delicious read...There are not many books that have actually made me cry from laughing,but this is one of themWonderfully funny and mischievous...It really did make me laugh out loud. Brigid Keenan is quite as hilarious a comic invention as Bridget Jones,only she's REALLife is what you make of it - you can't just sit there and let it happen to you - you've got to grab opportunities with both hands,or you risk boredom at least,depression and deathbed regrets at worst. Women have not been raised to understand the importance of this. Brigid Keenan rams the message home with hilarity. This is an important book,written by a very funny writerI found myself laughing out loud three or four times a page. Quite unlike anything else I have read: sad,touching,honest and observantShe is consistently herself,an observant journalist with a beady eye for local eccentricities...Life with Brigid Keenan could never be boringWith a glorious sense of the ridiculous,she depicts herself as a hyperventilating hysteric,who sobs her doom-ridden fantasies into realityVery few books these days make me laugh out loud - this one provoked loud hoots at the rate of three per page. It's the funniest thing I've read since Jilly Cooper stopped writing properly and turned to sex and four-letter words. If this isn't a runaway best-seller I'll run away myself and live in KazakhstanBrigid Keenan vividly evokes both the oddities and loneliness,even today,of being the "other half" of a diplomat. Immediate and intimate,poignant and very funny; it is as if she is talking to the reader. Her eagle-eyed observation of human behaviour and far flung experiences made me laugh out loudThe story sparkles,flies,delights. You love Keenan,the weepy,flighty,funny bit of diplomatic baggage but a part of your heart goes out to AW,her partner,who puts up and shuts up. But what makes this book special is how with a light touch Keenan exposes the dark corners,the frustrations,the dilemmas of those who go forth to represent their country. The grand houses and lifestyles hide so much,silence so many. But not Bridget KeenanVogue loves...Diplomatic Baggage
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