Daughters of Britannia (Radio Collection) [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Katie Hickman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Radio Collection | Publication Date: March 5, 2001

The history of British Diplomacy is recounted by the women who were there in this serial. Away from friends and family, Britain's 'ambassadresses' were great correspondents. Their letters reveal them to be anthing but the delicate, hysterical creatures of popular myth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For those who enjoy reading about travel and life abroad, this enormously entertaining social history of the female side of diplomatic life is a must. The author, herself the daughter of a diplomat, closely observed her mother's 28 years on the road. Drawing on published memoirs, letters, diaries, interviews and personal reminiscences, Hickman's (A Trip to the Light Fantastic: Travels with a Mexican Circus) written account ranges from the 17th through the 20th centuries. Organizing her anecdotes around various aspects of the diplomatic life, such as "getting there," "private lives," and "hardships," rather than by time period, the author contrasts the experiences of individual women (although it is occasionally difficult to keep track of who's who). When her husband was posted to Teheran in 1849, Mary Sheil discovered that she was virtually confined to the luxurious but isolated British residence. On the other hand, Harriet Granville, whose husband was posted to Paris in the 1820s, found herself devoting most of her time to diplomatic ceremonies. Many of the women had to cope with either unfamiliar food or a severe lack of food. Miss Tully (first name unknown) left letters describing the effects of pestilence and famine on her life in 1784 Tripoli. Often women were placed in danger by their position, for example Veronica Atkinson, whose family was caught up in the Romanian Revolution of 1989. Feelings of homesickness and other difficulties were common, yet Hickman presents most of the wives as enjoying adventurous lives that she describes as "quite exciting really." Photos. Agent, Gill Coleridge. (June 6)Forecast: Given its Anglocentric subject, this delightful book will be less widely reviewed here than it was in England. This may prevent it from reaching its full audience.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

This book sheds light on some women who have previously appeared as little more than footnotes in history while also drawing on the experiences of better-known figures, such as Vita Sackville-West and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. As Hickman points out, these women's writings and experiences are often far more interesting to current readers than those of the men they accompanied to remote parts of the world as official representatives of the great British Empire. Through private letters, diaries, memoirs, and interviews, Hickman provides glimpses into the exotic, often painfully lonely worlds of diplomatic wives, sisters, and daughters dating from the mid-17th century up to modern times. Structured in chapters that encapsulate the various aspects of these women's lives abroad ("Getting There," "Private Life," "Children," "Hardships," etc.), the book relates both great adventure and desolate boredom, the grandiose and the absurd. Although this book was obviously written for a British audience (published in the U.K. in 1999, it was a London Times best seller), it will engage North American readers as well. It is scholarly but eminently readable and is suitable for academic women's studies collections and larger public libraries. Shauna Rutherford, Univ. of Calgary Lib., Alberta
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: BBC Audiobooks (March 5, 2001)
• ISBN-10: 0563478179
• ISBN-13: 978-0563478171
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #665,138 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a reader from new york, October 14, 2002

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", September 9, 2001

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, March 1, 2009

By 

N. K. Kordatzis "Christina de Gand" (Greece) - See all my reviews

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.