Diplomatic Baggage - Softcover

Brigid writes like a dream ... fabulous (Joanna Lumley)

Brigid 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 loud. (Josceline Dimbleby)

A 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 them (Katie Hickman, Sunday Times)

Life 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 writer. (Shirley Conran)

I found myself laughing out loud three or four times a page. Quite unlike anything else I have read: sad, touching, honest and observant. (William Dalrymple)

Bridget Jones' mother meets Katie Hickman's Daughters of Britannia ... I've a hunch this is going to do very well. (Bookseller)

The verve, the fun and the disasters of a life spent trekking round the world is vividly conveyed. (Publishing News)

Thirty years of far-flung postings later, she has acquired enough farcical experiences to make this memoir irresistible. (Mail on Sunday)

She is consistently herself, an observant journalist with a beady eye for local eccentricities ... Life with Brigid Keenan could never be boring. (Country Life)

The 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 Keenan. (Yasmin Alibhai-Brown)

Bridget Jones's mother meets Katie Hickman's Daughters of Britannia in a hilarious memoir of home-making and family adventures in the world's furthest outposts