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. The author, herself the daughter of a diplomat, closely observed her mother's 28 years on the road. She has been travelling and writing ever since.įor those who enjoy reading about travel and life abroad, this enormously entertaining social history of the female side of diplomatic life is a must. Katie Hickman was brought up in Europe, the Far East and South America, and educated at Oxford University. ‘Mexico will not have been portrayed more vividly since Graham Greene’s The Lawless Roads… Enchanting’ Her characters would not seem out of place in the oeuvre of Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Isabel Allende’

‘Magic is at the heart of Hickman’s narrative. ‘The most ambitiously imaginative sort of travel writing’ Her last book, A Trip to the Light Fantastic, received extraordinarily good reviews: Their stories – from ambassadresses downwards – never before told, are a feast of eccentricity, genuine hardship and genuine heroism, and make for a hilarious, compelling and fascinating book. Accompanying their spouses in the most extraordinary, tough, sometimes terrifying circumstances, they have struggled to bring their civilization with them. ‘English ambassadresses are usually on the dotty side and leaving their embassies drives them completely off their rockers’ – Nancy Mitfordįrom the first exploratory expeditions into foreign lands, through the heyday of the British Empire and still today, the foreign service has been shaped and run behind the scenes by the wives of ambassadors and minor civil servants. This edition does not include illustrations.Īn authoritative and entertaining account by one of our most talented writers of the courageous and unusual women who have been the backbone of the British Empire and foreign service.

Daughters of Britannia by Katie Hickman