Packing Up: Further Adventures of a Trailing Spouse

by Brigid Keenan

Brigid Keenan was a successful young London fashion journalist when she fell in love with a diplomat and left behind the gilt chairs of the Paris salons for a large chicken shed in Nepal. Her bestselling account of life as a “trailing spouse,” Diplomatic Baggage , won the hearts of thousands in countries all over the world. Now, in her further adventures, we find Brigid in Kazakhstan, where AW, her husband, contracts Lyme disease from ticks, the local delicacy is horse meat sausage, and Brigid's visit to a market leads to a full-scale riot from which she requires a police escort. Then, as the prospect of retirement looms, Brigid finds herself on the cusp of a whole new shuttling between London, Brussels, and their last posting in Azerbaijan; navigating her daughters' weddings while coping with a cancer diagnosis; and getting a crash course in grandmotherhood as she helps organize a literature festival in Palestine. Along the way, dauntless and wildly funny as ever, Brigid learns that packing up doesn't mean packing in as she discovers that retiring and moving back home could just be her biggest challenge yet.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Biography

320 pages, Hardcover

First published April 10, 2014

About the author

Brigid Keenan was born in 1939.

Her involvement in fashion began when she joined the Daily Express women's page staff at the start of her career in 1959. Two years later she moved to the Sunday Times where she was responsible for their Young Fashion pages. In 1966 she left the paper to become Assistant Editor of Nova magazine and from there she went to The Observer as Woman's Editor. After a year's break, during which she lived with her husband (a development economist) in Ethiopia, she returned to the Sunday Times as fashion and Beauty Editor. In 1977 she moved to Brussels where she now lives with her husband and two small daughters.

She is a founding board member of the Palestine Festival of Literature.

Reviews

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Brigid Keenan's "Diplomatic Baggage" and this was an excellent coda. She is wonderfully honest about her shortcomings, but also in this book rather more forthright about her own opinions, particularly on Israel and Palestine (she was on of the co-founders of Palfest, a Palestinian Literature Festival). I really enjoyed this book. It was extremely funny and touching and you can only hope that Brigid and her beloved husband AW have a long and happy retirement.

[Lorry Chwazik · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this second memoir, journalist Keenan writes warmly and amusingly of life spent as the wife of an ambassador of the European Union. As her husband nears retirement, she finds herself busier than ever, juggling grandparenthood, devotion to the Palestinian cause, adjusting to new postings in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, and near constant travel among England, Brussels, and the Middle East. Keenan uses self-deprecating humor to inform us about life and cultures abroad, quite an appealing change from other British ex-pats who strike a condescending tone in their memoirs (I’m looking at you “A Year In Provence”).

[Belle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to wait a few days to write a review because I wasn't quite sure how to review this. As it was I dithered over a 2 or 3 star rating. There was some very interesting info in the book, especially regarding Palestine and some very useful quotes that I wholeheartedly agreed wiith but on the whole I didn't really enjoy this book as much as I was hoping I would. I thought at first that the author was all over the place, maybe trying a little too hard to be funny and jumping from one thing to the next. It was a bit exhausting but then I did get used to Iberia writing style. I haven't read this author's previous books and maybe that would have helped or maybe this would appeal to someone a little older than me (I'm in my early 40s.) I just kept thinking how much money it must cost to keep doing out all of these diplomatic residences each time and why couldn't they take their own furniture at least! I wouldn't read anything else by this author but I would recommend for older ladies approaching retirement (or with husbands approaching retirement.)

[Paola Fornari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I identified with so much of this, from transporting babies in the car in Moses baskets to worrying about retirement, from coping (with difficulty, cf working car seats and buggy clasps) with new grandmotherhood, to visiting the rock paintings outside Baku, from cooking disasters to Ayurvedic massages...

In 'Packing Up,' Brigid deals with even the most serious issues with humour. A great read.

[Paul Chiswick · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book did not engage me. The author was all over the place, trying a little too hard to be funny and jumping from one thing to the next. I felt it was one for ladies of a certain age and certain social standing. Not my sex and not my class.

[Nurzetty Khairi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first book rather than this one. The author's writing is all over the place. It took me so long to finish it, that i had to re-read the beginning because I have forgotten all about it after 3 months reading a few chapters on it. This book didn't engage me at all.

[Bernadette · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first book more. This one rather emphasized the privileged life the author lead and it grated somewhat.