I just finished this book that I received as a birthday gift from my boss. It’s 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.
