This is an auction for DIPLOMATIC BAGGAGE: THE ADVENTURES OF A TRAILING SPOUSE, by Brigid Keenan.

"When "Sunday Times" fashion journalist Brigid Keenan married the love of her life in the late Sixties, little idea did she have of the rollercoaster journey they would make around the world together - with most things going horribly awry while being obliged to keep the straightest face and put their best feet forward. For he was a diplomat - and Brigid found herself the smiling face of the European Union in locales ranging from Kazakhstan to Trinidad. Finding herself miserable for the first time in a career into which many would have long ago thrown the towel, she found herself asking was it worth it? As this stream of it-really-happened-to-me stories shows, it was - if only for our vicarious bewilderment at how exactly you throw a buffet dinner during a public mourning period in Syria, remain viable as a fashion journalist when taste-wise you are three seasons out of it and geographically a world away, make people believe that there are actually terrible things going on in paradise, be a good mother, and save some of the finest architecture in Damascus and Brussels from demolition - all at the same time."

"It's possibly the first time the travails of the envoy's family life have been so wittily spelled out."

• Diplomat

"A wonderful picaresque take on the travails of expat life, and an absolutely delicious read."

• The Sunday Times (UK)

"Thirty years of far-flung postings later, she has enough farcical experiences to make this memoir irresistible."

• Mail On Sunday

Very favourable reviews on Amazon.com.

Paperback 2006.

292 pages.

Near new condition.

The cost of shipping is $4.95, or $6.95 by tracked mail. If you are on rural delivery and want tracked mail, the shipping cost will be $9.95.

There is of course no charge for shipping if you collect this book from my shop in Palmerston North following the auction.

Payment within seven days, please.