The Foreign Service Journal, November 2006

Whither the Promised Land Helga Ruge, Clay and Marshall Publishing Company, 2005, $11.95, paperback, 307 pages. In this romantic novel, the torrid love affair between a beautiful Sicilian immigrant and an American diplomat at the height of the Cold War draws readers into an exhilarat- ing world of diplomatic intri- gues, shocking cultural experiences and larger-than- life characters with a passion for adventure. The story is set in 1960 and 1961. It begins when Sicilian native Octavia Angelini emigrates to America to reunite with her lover, U.S. vice consul Jeff Car- penter. Once in the Promised Land, however, their love is challenged by the strict State Department rules regarding marrying non-U.S. citizens and Jeff’s dedication to his government career. Drawing from her own experiences as a foreign-born diplomatic spouse, Helga Ruge fashions a beautifully crafted tale of “passion, jealousy, conviction, honesty, joy and sadness, and so many of the eternal variables of human relationships.” Book columnist Dan Barnett of the Chico-Enterprise Record notes, “It is clear Ruge had immense fun with this confection and readers can look forward to future work as she blos- soms as a novelist.” Helga Ruge was born in Germany and came to America with her FSO husband in 1950. Together with their two children, they have lived in Casablan- ca, London, Cardiff, Munich, Guatemala City and Washington, D.C. After her husband’s retirement in 1969, they settled in California, where she taught German at California State University. Her career as a writer began with the publication of her memoir, Flashbacks of a Diplomat’s Wife ( Marshall Publishing Company, 2002). Moscow at Dawn Will Sutter, PublishAmerica, 2005, $19.95, paperback, 236 pages. Dick McCarthy, star journalist of Philadelphia’s Omnium newspaper, returns to Moscow to cover the rapid-fire developments in a newly revived round of arms control negotiations just as the glasnost era begins. McCarthy and his partner, Frank Trudeau, get involved with a group of artists who are testing emerg- ing political reforms, and Trudeau lands in a Soviet prison. Both the Soviet govern- ment, which is using Frank’s arrest to force the media to accept restraint, and the U.S. embassy, which is reluctant to disturb improving relations between the U.S. and USSR, choose to ignore the situation. Will McCarthy be able to foil both governments and spring Trudeau with nothing but jour- nalistic weapons at his disposal? Will Sutter is a retired Foreign Service officer. Over a 21-year career with USIA, he was posted to Bangkok, Moscow, Vientiane, Kinshasa and Nouak- chott. Following retirement Mr. Sutter lived in Rome and Vienna, where he began writing. He is the author of Star Over Chingat (PublishAmerica, 2004), and currently lives in Frederick, Md. The Lady in the Spitfire: A Novel Helena P. Schrader, iUniverse, 2006, $19.95, paperback, 322 pages. Returning from his first combat mission over Germany during World War II with a damaged B-17 and a wounded tail gunner, Lt. Jay Bronowsky of the U.S. Eighth Air Force is forced to divert due to weather. In heavy clouds he nearly collides with an RAF bomber that is piloted — he is shocked to learn after landing — by a woman. He soon finds himself fascinated by the attractive and highly pro- fessional pilot. Emily is a sharp contrast to his American fiancée, who seems to have no understanding for what he is going through. Emily has not yet recovered from the loss of her RAF pilot husband, Robin, who has been reported missing, but is gradually drawn into a relation- ship with Jay, whom she discovers she likes very much. In this work of fiction, Helena Schrader imagines more fully the life experiences of the intriguing women whose history she has recorded in Sisters In Arms: British & American Women Pilots during World War II, also published this year (see p. 64). Ms. Schrader is a historican and writer. She is also an active-duty FSO. She joined the Service in 2005 and is currently posted in Norway. 76 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 6