Lezersrecensie
Culture, tension and history!
I love stories set in two different periods and with A stranger in Baghdad this is what you get. Elizabeth Loudon started her story in 2003, at the end of the Haddad family's history which spans about seventy years.
An old acquaintance drops by at the London office of Mona Haddad and might finally close the past.
But first we are brought back to 1937, when the young British nurse Diane marries the ambitious Iraqi doctor Ibrahim and she leaves her home country, her culture, her work for an adventure in Iraq, which in '37 was unique for a foreigner. She has to adapt to a different culture on all levels while she remains British. Thanks to or because of the young British Embassy officer Duncan, she becomes involved with the Royal family. And while everybody suspects everybody, her family is suddenly suspected and scrutinized by everyone when things for the Royal family start to go wrong.
This was my first story written by Elizabeth Loudon and I can tell I want more. The author managed to tell in a smorgh, page turning way about a British-Iraqi family during a timeframe of seventy years and integrated the cultural characteristics of both countries during that time. Many things remained the same, while a lot also changed.
But throughout the whole story, I wanted to know more about the family, about Iraq, .... . With a satisfying sigh I finished the book today.
An old acquaintance drops by at the London office of Mona Haddad and might finally close the past.
But first we are brought back to 1937, when the young British nurse Diane marries the ambitious Iraqi doctor Ibrahim and she leaves her home country, her culture, her work for an adventure in Iraq, which in '37 was unique for a foreigner. She has to adapt to a different culture on all levels while she remains British. Thanks to or because of the young British Embassy officer Duncan, she becomes involved with the Royal family. And while everybody suspects everybody, her family is suddenly suspected and scrutinized by everyone when things for the Royal family start to go wrong.
This was my first story written by Elizabeth Loudon and I can tell I want more. The author managed to tell in a smorgh, page turning way about a British-Iraqi family during a timeframe of seventy years and integrated the cultural characteristics of both countries during that time. Many things remained the same, while a lot also changed.
But throughout the whole story, I wanted to know more about the family, about Iraq, .... . With a satisfying sigh I finished the book today.
1
Reageer op deze recensie
