Talking about Jane Austen in Baghdad: The True Story of an Unlikely Friendship by Bee Rowlatt

A London mom and Iraqi teacher should have nothing in common. Yet now, despite their differences, they're the firmest of friends. . . Talking About Jane Austen in Baghdad by Bee Rowlatt and May Witwit is a touching and poignant portrait of an unlikely friendship. Would you brave gun-toting militias for a cut and blow dry? May's a tough-talking, hard-smoking, lecturer in English. She's also an Iraqi from a Sunni-Shi'ite background living in Baghdad, dodging bullets before breakfast, bargaining for high heels in bombed-out bazaars, and battling through blockades to reach her class of Jane Austen-studying girls. Bee, on the other hand, is a London mom of three, busy fighting off PTA meetings and chicken pox, dealing with dead cats, and generally juggling work and family while squabbling with her globe-trotting husband over the socks he leaves lying around the house. They should have nothing in common. But when a simple email brings them together, they discover a friendship that overcomes all their differences of culture, religion, and age. Talking About Jane Austen in Baghdad is the story of two women who share laughter and tears, and swap their confidences, dreams, and fears. And, between the grenades, the gossip, the jokes, and the secrets, they also hatch an ingenious plan to help May escape the bombings of Baghdad. . .