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sophlh105's review
3.0
I didn't enjoy quite as much as the last Hickman book I read - her stories of travel with the circus but the topic is really jnteresting and separated into clear chapters which made it a good pick up and put down historical nonfiction read ! I often got lost between so many people being referenced without being set up exactly in place and time but really enjoyed the quotes from letters and the personal anecdotes added.
siria's review
3.0
Daughters of Britannia is an interesting look at the wives and families of British diplomats from the seventeenth century to the present day—women who often endured hardship and upheaval in order to follow their husbands and brothers and fathers many thousands of miles from home. Hickman writes engagingly, but I thought her work was perhaps a little insular, and too brief for the scope of what she was attempting. There is, however, a useful bibliography which points to further reading.
nwhyte's review
http://nhw.livejournal.com/1127018.html[return][return]I'm probably being rather unfair to this book, but I'm giving up on it not quite half-way through. Hickman, herself a diplomat's daughter, has pulled together an engaging collection of correspondence from the wives (and occasionally other female relatives) of British diplomats posted abroad throughout the last four centuries. The material is amusing and sometimes moving. But I felt that the book lacked a substantial intellectual framework, such as any serious interrogation of the concepts of Britishness, diplomacy, or wives. And I think Hickman did intend it to be that kind of book, but it isn't.[return][return]I must say also that having lived abroad in three countries in the last twelve years, and having myself set up from scratch two local offices (and overseen the setting up of a third) for my various employers, I did find myself rather unsympathetic to some of the accounts of hardship reported by people whose government-funded bureaucracies weren't always able to guarantee them a perfect quality of life. In the non-profit sector things are a bit different.[return][return]In fairness, some of the hardships are very real. Hickman's father was deputy head of the British embassy in Dublin in 1976 when the ambassador, Christopher Ewart-Biggs, was killed by the IRA: perhaps the most moving section in the book (and one of the longest single extracts) is her mother's description of the aftermath for the Ewart-Biggs family.
purnima22's review
An amazing book which spans across almost a century of the British Diplomatic Service and explores and showcases it from an unusual viewpoint, that of a diplomatic wives. It brings a very personal and up close view of how it felt to be pioneers in lands yet unexplored and how the excitement of a diplomatic posting came with the disadvantages of sacrificed personal and familial aspirations and an element of danger.
and_abelard_reads's review against another edition
4.0
This could be a little dense at times but it's a great anecdotal snapshot of those who've "married in" to the British Diplomatic Service and the social roles and expectations of women, in the Empire and more recently. The narrative focuses on a few key historical figures (who I would be delighted to read more about) and the more recent and emotive topics focused on the correspondence and experience of family, friends and the author herself.
I did feel that the later chapters dealing with what it meant to be a modern diplomatic spouse (including the pressures on diplomatic husbands), and the experiences of embassy families in conflict (particularly The Troubles) could have been expanded on, perhaps in their own book.
I did feel that the later chapters dealing with what it meant to be a modern diplomatic spouse (including the pressures on diplomatic husbands), and the experiences of embassy families in conflict (particularly The Troubles) could have been expanded on, perhaps in their own book.
arisbookcorner's review against another edition
4.0
I bought this book in August of my freshman year in college at the library book sale but didn't get around to reading it till this past summer. Anyhoo I'm pleased I finally got around to reading it since it was about an aspect of history that never would have crossed my mind; the lives of diplomatic women. Unfortunately it did not cover British female diplomats but it provided interesting portrayals of British diplomatic wives, daughters and sisters. I wasn't familiar with any of the women mentioned except for Pamela Churchhill Harriman and I only knew her name because I came across it in Kati Morton's book. But I suspect if one is British you might be more familiar with some of the women mentioned, certainly with their husbands/brothers/sons. I have a newfound respect for the early diplomatic women, they received very little attention and help from the British Foreign Service when they uprooted their families for the sake of their husbands careers and while some lived in the lap of luxury, many went through severe hardships. A fine anecdotal addition to the diplomacy historical and literary canon, I have not yet forgotten the interesting women I read about (some of the most impressive were Vita Sackville-West and Jane Ewart-Biggs).
christina_z's review
5.0
I have been taking an 'History of Diplomacy' class and throughout, all we have really read/learned is the diplomacy viewpoint through the eyes of men. Granted they were the main players within diplomacy, but this book has gone into details about the lives they have lived. The wives/female relations of the diplomats expose the details they faced and you really come to understand what they went through. Amazing!