An 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. 'English ambassadresses are usually on the dotty side and leaving their embassies drives them completely off their rockers' - Nancy Mitford From 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 ...
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An 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. 'English ambassadresses are usually on the dotty side and leaving their embassies drives them completely off their rockers' - Nancy Mitford From 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. Accompanying their spouses in the most extraordinary, tough, sometimes terrifying circumstances, they have struggled to bring their civilization with them. 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.
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Add this copy of Daughters of Britannia: the Lives and Times of to cart. $1.64, very good condition, Sold by Aardvark Books Ltd rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Bucknell, HEREFORDSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2000 by Flamingo.
Add this copy of Daughters of Britannia: the Lives and Times of to cart. $2.95, very good condition, Sold by Aardvark Books Ltd rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Bucknell, HEREFORDSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1999 by HarperCollins.
Add this copy of Daughters of Britannia: the Lives and Times of to cart. $6.18, very good condition, Sold by Roger Lucas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Horncastle, Lincs, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1999 by Harper Collins.
Add this copy of Daughters of Britannia to cart. $11.63, new condition, Sold by Ria Christie Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Uxbridge, MIDDLESEX, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2000 by Flamingo.
Add this copy of Daughters of Britannia: the Lives and Times of to cart. $13.03, good condition, Sold by Anybook rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lincoln, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2000 by Flamingo.
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Seller's Description:
This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has soft covers. Clean from markings. In good all round condition. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 350grams, ISBN: 9780006387800.
Add this copy of Daughters of Britannia: the Lives and Times of to cart. $18.48, very good condition, Sold by Alpha 2 Omega Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Southampton, HANTS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1999 by HarperCollins.
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Very good in Very good jacket. VGC. HarperCollins, 1999. First edition-4th printing(5 7 9 8 6 4). Black hardback(gilt lettering to the spine, small nick on the edge of the cover) with Dj(watermarks inside the edges of the Dj cover, two small nicks and creases on the edges of the Dj cover), both in VGC. Illustrated with a colour map inside the front and back cover, b/w photos. Nice and clean pages but with slight damp damage on the edges of some of the pages, light shelf wear on the outer edge of the pages. The book is in VGC except for the watermarks on the Dj cover and the damp on the edges of the pages.343pp including Author's note, list of principal women, list of illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. Price un-clipped. A collectable book. This is another paragraph Review: As the daughter of a diplomat, Katie Hickman is well situated to write about the lives of the women who, from the 17th century onward, have traversed the globe as partners of Britain's ambassadors. These women are more than simply bored socialites or helpmeets, they are indispensable companions, intrepid travellers, and, in many cases, exemplary ambassadors for their country. Hickman details the lives of the female ambassadors, from flamboyant characters such as Vita Sackville-West, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and the bolter Emma Hamilton, to lesser-known contemporary stoics like Jane-Ewart-Biggs, whose husband, the British Ambassador to Eire, was killed by an IRA car bomb in 1976, and Veronica Atkinson and family who cowered in the basement of the British Embassy in Bucharest during the 1989 uprising that overthrew the Romanian dictator Nicolai Ceaucescu. What frequently unites Hickman's wildly different subjects is their loneliness--drawing on letters, diaries and memoirs, she portrays women who had to discipline themselves to adapt (often ingeniously) to unfamiliar cultures, far away from friends and family--many, in particular, were separated from their children, who would be sequestered at boarding school back in Britain--while maintaining an unimpeachable public image. I shall be obliged to travel three or four days between Buda and Essek without finding any house at all, through desert plains covered with snow, where the cold is so violent many have been killed by it, wrote Lady Mary Wortley Montagu of her treacherous journey to Constantinople in 1716. Almost 300 years later, in 1996, Stephanie Hopkinson wryly itemised the bizarre qualifications necessary for daily diplomatic life in a Sarajevo under siege: Ability to. apply make-up in the dark; aptitude for for bathing in a cold teacup and keeping one's hair/self/clothes clean and uncrumpled as long as possible. vivid imagination which converts tinned frankfurters, bread and rice into smoked salmon/steak and chips.
Add this copy of Daughters of Britannia: the Lives and Times of to cart. $1.65, very good condition, Sold by Jenhams rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dundee, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2011 by Flamingo.
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Very Good or better condition. This book is in stock now, in our UK premises. Photos of our books are available on request (the pictures you see on Alibris are NOT our own).
Add this copy of Daughters of Britannia: the Lives and Times of to cart. $1.82, very good condition, Sold by Reuseabook rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gloucester, GLOS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2011 by Flamingo.
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Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. Though second-hand, the book is still in very good shape. Minimal signs of usage may include very minor creasing on the cover or on the spine.
Add this copy of Daughters of Britannia: the Lives and Times of to cart. $1.82, good condition, Sold by Jenhams rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dundee, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2011 by Flamingo.
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Good condition, edges a little marked. This book is in stock now, in our UK premises. Photos of our books are available on request (the pictures you see on Alibris are NOT our own).
Add this copy of Daughters of Britannia: the Lives and Times of to cart. $3.05, very good condition, Sold by Jenhams rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dundee, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1999 by HarperCollins.
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Seller's Description:
Very good in very good dust jacket. First Edition. A hardback First Edition in Very Good condition, page-block edges tanned, in a Very Good dustjacket. This book is in stock now, in our UK premises. Photos of our books are available on request (the pictures you see on Alibris are NOT our own).
This book is about the lives of British diplomatic ?wives? (mostly wives with a few daughters and one husband towards the end). Most of the stories are prior to the 19th century. While the sexism and pressure put on these women to act, essentially, as unpaid embassy employees is pretty shocking there are also some really fascinating stories. Stories include Miss Tully?s (female relative of diplomat Richard Tully, first name unknown) letters while in deep quarantine in plague ravaged Tripoli, the first hand account of the author?s own mother as a junior diplomatic wife when British diplomat Christopher Ewart-Briggs was assassinated in Ireland and the meteoric rise of Emma Hamilton from courtesan to society wife. It?s a pretty great book as long as you?re able to check your knee-jerk feminist response at the door.
