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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a reader from new york,
By A Customer
This review is from: Daughters of Britannia: The Lives and Times of Diplomatic Wives (Paperback)
I think the first reviewer is being a little unfair towards this book. Yes, it skips around chronologically, but the aim of the book is to give the reader a taste of life in the diplomatic service from its beginnings to the current day, not be a biography of particular wives. On the first, the book succeeds very well. We hear about the glittering parties and receptions as well as the downright appalling conditions some families lived in (well into the 20th century, by the way). The wives are often in just as much danger as their husbands, and they are usually unpaid! Katie Hickman does a laudable job of giving these (mostly) admirable women their due.
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The Famous "Stiff Upper Lip",
By sweetmolly (RICHMOND, VA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Daughters of Britannia: The Lives and Times of Diplomatic Wives (Hardcover)
The diplomatic wives depicted in this book were a hardy lot. Many of the stories brought forth the visions of the proper Englishman dressing for dinner each night in the jungle. Ms. Hickman grew up in the diplomatic service and displays much affection and admiration for these unsung ladies. The letters diary excerpts are interesting, sometimes poignant reminders of how isolated and far from home the ladies were.The book has a peculiar organization, not by date or individuals, but by their duties. I found this annoying and difficult to follow. We meet a lady on page 6 and do not hear of her again until page 200. It skips between the 17th century to the 20th and back within two paragraphs. Consequently, I had never had a clear idea of who they were and when their stories were taking place. Ms. Hickman is almost too discreet. Some of the incidents beg for clarification. (She is not a diplomat's daughter for nothing!) I didn't expect a tell-all tabloid style, but neither did I expect an almost Victorian reticence. The author clearly had done a great deal of research and took advantage of her own and her mother's recollections, but was in great need of a good editor.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Peeking behind Diplomatic Curtains,
By
This review is from: Daughters of Britannia: The Lives and Times of Diplomatic Wives (Paperback)
A look at the lives of English Diplomatic Wives.I think it is well researched and has a lot of interesting info and funny anecdotes, which confirm to me once more that protocol is really a very unfortunate and unnecessary evil, of course the English actually revel in it whatever they may say.I think however a somewhat different approach to the subject would have been preferable.Instead of droning off the facts one after the other in a series of chapters, that often repeat the same occurence, choosing the lives of some interesting ladies telling us their stories might have made the book more pleasant to the reader.All in all it is not a boring read but it certainly is not everybody's cup of tea.
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