The Foreign Service Journal, November 2003

A Portable Identity: A Woman’s Guide to Maintaining a Sense of Self While Moving Overseas Debra R. Bryson, MSW, and Charise M. Hoge, MSW, A Park Publication, 2003, $24.95, paperback, 250 pages. This book by two professional social workers, who met as expatriate wives working as counselors at the Community Services of Bangkok in 1991, is a useful contribution to the growing literature on cross-cultural adaptation. Written to help women manage the changes in identity that occur during a move overseas, the book includes exercises and personal stories in a work- book-type format. The authors developed “the Wheel,” a model a woman can use to take charge of change. The authors both moved overseas in support of their husbands’ careers — Bryson’s husband Brad is a former State Department employee, and Hoge’s husband Charles is a research physician for the U.S. Army. A Moveable Marriage: Relocate Your Relationship without Breaking It Robin Pascoe, Expatriate Press Limited, 2003, $16.95, paperback, 206 pages. “This is the first book I’ve read that really gets to the nitty-gritty of the marital challenges associated with supporting a husband’s moveable career,” writes one relo- cated wife about A Moveable Marriage . “Not only does Robin tackle issues most couples and girlfriends wouldn’t dare discuss — like sex, money, resentment, career, chil- dren, indifference, resignation and even depression — she talks about them with alarming clarity and common sense.” An insightful foreword by a wise couples therapist and a list of helpful books and Web sites are added bonuses. Pascoe, who accompanied her Foreign Service husband to posts in Asia is now based in Canada. Her popular Web site, ExpatExpert.com , provides information, opinion, and humor for families on the move. F O C U S 32 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 3 “How Tos” for the FS Lifestyle Also of Interest: Parenting Abroad Ngaire Jehle-Caitcheon, Aletheia Publications, Inc., 2003, $19.95, paperback, 258 pages. Raising children is a daunting yet exhilarating challenge anywhere. This book by a veteran expatriate mother is a practical guide to the unique issues that may arise when families embark on a mobile lifestyle, and, in the words of Foreign Service Youth Foundation reviewer Kay Branaman Eakin, is “a welcome con- tribution to the existing literature, focusing on the concept of a ‘mobile family experience’ and the universali- ty of such a concept.” Originally from New Zealand, Jehle-Caitcheon has lived abroad for 26 years. Daughters of Britannia: The Life and Times of Diplomatic Wives Katie Hickman, Perennial, 2002, $14.95, paperback, 368 pages. This is a “delightful book,” according to Publishers Weekly. Its Anglocentric subject should not pre- vent it from reaching its full audi- ence, for it is an entertaining social history of the female side of diplo- matic life in the British Foreign Service from the 17th through the 20th centuries. The author, herself the daughter of a diplomat, closely observed her mother’s 28 years on the road and also draws on pub- lished memoirs, letters, diaries, interviews and personal reminis- cences. Pocket Partner Compiled by Dennis H. Evers, Mary E. Miller, and Thomas J. Glover, Sequoia Publishing, Inc., 3rd edition 2003, $9.95, paperback, 672 pages. This handbook has been brought out in a new edition to meet the needs of diplomats and others who may be targets of terrorist activity. A chapter titled “Terrorism and Countermeasures” is one of the many new features. Despite its U.S. orientation — time zones, for exam- ple, are given only for North America — this little book contains a wealth of vital information. The book can be ordered online at www.thepocketpartner.com.