High Tea in Mosul: The True Story of Two Englishwomen in War-torn Iraq [Hardcover]

Lynne O'Donnell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2007

Two Englishwomen, married to Iraqi men they met in Britain and later accompanied back to the northern city of Mosul, tell their stories to a reporter in this unusual look at Westerners immersed in Middle Eastern culture and politics. Pauline Basheer, wife of an Iraqi heart surgeon and mother of two children, has lived in Iraq for more than 30 years, and her friend, another Englishwoman who also arrived in Iraq in the mid–70s. The book details how the two women got to know each other as they assimilated, learning Arabic, living within traditional Iraqi family structures, and enduring the rigors of Saddam Hussein's regime: food rationing, thought police, anti-Western discrimination, and almost constant war. Interviewed for the book in 2003, they describe their overlapping experiences in Mosul and share their individual perspectives on this life-changing experience.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Journalist and foreign correspondent O'Donnell dexterously combines the tumultuous accounts of two Englishwomen living in Iraq with first-person narratives to create an impartial tale about life in Mosul, a mixed-religion city northwest of Baghdad. In the late 1970s, Pauline and Margaret, the British wives of an Iraqi heart specialist and future Mosul University president, respectively, assimilated into daily Middle Eastern life by learning to adapt to overbearing extended families, complying (or not) with secular rules and dejectedly tolerating meals of mutton. By degrees, over the next two decades, Saddam's iron hand tightened; Iran and Kuwait were invaded, while censorship, food rationing and international sanctions ensued. In 2003, Mosul crumbles, and the lives of these Englishwomen become attuned to air raids, bombs and the shudder of explosions. O'Donnell's emotional narrative examines Iraqi life in its entirety and shows that there is more to the country than violence and war. She chronicles friendship and family with stories about everyday life. A thorough look into Iraqi's past and present, O'Donnell's tale adds a human element to the developing history of a turbulent nation. (Aug.)
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Review

"A clear-eyed documentary of the tragedy of being born an ordinary Iraqi."  —
Hugh Pope, author, Sons of the Conquerers: The Rise of the Turkic World and Turkey Unveiled: A History of Modern Turkey

"This fine book, gracefully written, helps humanize the war in Iraq, Too often that horrific conflict can become so overwhelmingly grimy as to seem abstract. High Tea in Mosul helps bring that story down to earth."  —Christian Parenti, author, The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq

"A fine writer and a brave woman. She has a powerful story to tell."  —Roger Alton, editor, The Observer

"A powerfully engaging story."  —Chicago Sun-Times

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 242 pages
• Publisher: Cyan Communications; 1st Ed. edition (August 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1905736096
• ISBN-13: 978-1905736096
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,131,289 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars High Tea In Mosul, November 14, 2007

By 

Jacqueline A. Atkinson "Hawkwoman" (NH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: High Tea in Mosul: The True Story of Two Englishwomen in War-torn Iraq (Hardcover)

Super read. True insight as to how many women are treated in the Middle East. It makes you happy, sad, angry and anxious. These women must have truly loved their husbands to endure what they did. I could not live under such conditions.