I first picked up Brigid Keenan’s Diplomatic Baggage a few months after I got married and I’ve read the book quite a number of times since. Funny enough, it was my husband who told me about the book and we searched for it in almost every bookstore in Manila until I finally got my copy. It was my companion during the first few months of our posting. We were in Kuala Lumpur and I was treating it like a portable, inanimate friend until I met people who weren’t my husband’s colleagues. When we moved to Berlin, I picked it up again for another go. It’s the book I often recommend to people who want to learn more about diplomatic life at post.
In the last few years, it’s been rather difficult to get a copy after it went out of print. I sometimes feel guilty that I never lent my copy even to friends. I always felt that it’s one of the more precious volumes in my collection and I have this running theory that the closer you are to someone, the more likely they are not to return a book. So I would just usually help people find it online. Book Depository was helpful for a while but even they ran out of copies eventually.
That changed this year. I’m thrilled to share the wonderful news with you that Diplomatic Baggage has been republished. Bloomsbury picked up Brigid’s stories and now, it’s almost impossible not to get a copy. Mine survived the journey from Europe to Manila which took a little over a week. So I’m confident it can get anywhere. It also has a new introduction with a little surprise which I’ll share towards the end of this article.
Brigid Keenan, the author, with her republished book.
What to expect
Funny, charming, and intelligent, Brigid (Diplomatic Baggage and its sequel, Packing Up) wrote about her life abroad as a diplomatic spouse. “Back in my day it was very different, no one had much sympathy for us – the general feeling seemed to be that expat wives lived in luxury compounds, drank a lot of gin, and had affairs,” Brigid wrote in the book. It’s not always smooth sailing, as most of us who followed a similar path would know. Quite a number of times, Brigid lamented over the fact that no one really gets the life of an expat spouse except for another and that’s a sad, lonesome truth.
Diplomatic Baggage wasn’t the first book to be written about the life of a diplomat’s wife. A few came before but it’s Brigid’s story that was a more modern take. It’s also easy to relate to even though the stories she shared happened between the years 1970 and 2003. I learned about things I shouldn’t say to Ambassadors, picked up tips on visiting a souq, and now know a couple of uses for dog fat. That last bit, I hope to remain as a quirky piece of trivia stuck in my head that I never have to use in real life. I don’t think my dog would appreciate it, to be honest.
Admit it, being an expat is a never-ending learning and adapting process. It’s also being constantly surprised about the different facets of a culture that you’re experiencing through a posting. All these things are in the book without being preachy or shoving yet another set of recipes down my throat. I swear to God, I think there’s an expectation that all diplomat’s wives are just always in the kitchen. Nothing wrong with it but that’s not the only thing we do, no? But I digress.
Get a copy here
- via Waterstones
- via Amazon
- via Book Depository
Meeting Brigid
If you’ve been following me on social media or my columns with The Manila Bulletin, you probably already know that I got the chance to interview Brigid last year. You can find the article here. They say meeting your heroes often leaves you disappointed but that wasn’t the case with her. Our chat felt like I was catching up with a long-time friend. Despite the time difference and the physical distance, Brigid felt authentically warm and unpretentious – and that translates into her works.
I think the beauty of her writing comes from how she doesn’t take herself too seriously. When you know how to laugh at yourself and your mistakes, then life becomes a tad lighter, don’t you think?
I used to wonder whether the reason why I relate to Brigid and her story so much is because of our similar career backgrounds. Both journalists who loved their careers and used writing to cope with the constant moving. However, I realized that one need not be a writer or a diplomat’s wife to relate to Brigid and enjoy her stories. The emotions, experiences, and gaffes are pretty much universal. Well, at least to people who have – in at least one point in their life – tried to adapt to a new culture.
When we did the interview, Brigid was as candid and humorous as I imagined. On the side, we also talked about her life now – from being a grandma and retired diplomat’s wife to the state of journalism and book publishing. She’s in her 80s now but she’s still sharp, witty, and hilarious. We continue to e-mail and send messages to each other and there’s a consistency to her personality I don’t often encounter anymore. I interview and write about people quite often and this level of authenticity is something that’s rare in this day and age when everyone seems to have a curated, online ‘brand’. Authenticity is contrived and now more of a buzzword.
What’s new?
While there are no changes to the original story, the republished version comes with a new introduction and epilogue. I’m absolutely chuffed to share with you that Almost Diplomatic is mentioned in this new introduction. I love how Brigid talked about the internet and how it changed the way we coped with life abroad. She also touched on the pandemic and how expat spouses probably coped better than most because we’re used to the isolation. At least, in the first few months during each move.
For most of us, it’s hard to imagine moving abroad in the 70s. This was a time when people were actually dependent on snail mail and landlines. Barring the exorbitant fees, long-distance calls were probably a true source of joy. After reading the intro, I found myself saying a little prayer of thanks for WhatsApp, Google Translate, and Google Maps – I would have gotten tragically lost in Kuala Lumpur and Berlin without them. I also made a lot of my friends through the internet first. In fact, I met Brigid thanks to good old Facebook and interviewed her via FaceTime.
Every time I felt life was tough at post, I imagine how it would be if I lived this life just a few decades earlier. So, I guess when I said ‘most of us’ just a paragraph earlier, I meant me. Without the convenience technology has afforded me, I think the who diplowife gig would be much, much harder.
Brigid did it and even saw how the internet changed everything, giving us a glimpse through her memoirs. While she admits to how difficult it was, she survived and I think she had quite the beautiful and riveting life. One that you should definitely read about.
Cheers, Brigid. Here’s to many more spouses who will definitely be inspired by your books.
