S
et against the backdrop of Europe with World War II imminent, Eastern Starlight, a British Girl's Memoir as the Wartime Wife of a U.S. Diplomat, is the third book of a trilogy by Jean Elder, the first two of which are about her China years. We join Jean and her husband, US Vice Consul Reginald Mitchell, as the newlywed couple depart Shanghai for their first post together, Warsaw, Poland, an armed camp surrounded by enemy superpowers and a haven for spies.
Jean draws us into the fascinating but fiercely demanding Foreign Service world of international relations face-to-face diplomacy in a lifestyle that few of her peers would ever know at age 23. She shares with us her experiences engaging with Ambassadors and Ministers and their wives and Papal Emissaries at grand diplomatic soirees and equally important, as a diplomatic hostess having to plan and manage teas and tiffins and dinner parties at home. Protocol is a carryover from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and rules about formal attire, such as all but swords and medals (ABSAM) and stringent social etiquette, are followed to the letter. Posted to Dublin, Irish Free State, Jean, becomes friends with Sinead O'Flanagan, wife of IFS President Eamon de Valera, who opposes Britain and intends to keep Ireland neutral in any future war with Nazi Germany.
Returning "home side", Reg is assigned the newly created position of State Department Press Spokesman and White House Press Liaison. Through Jean's eyes, we have a colorful close-up view of pre-war Washington, a city of lovely parks, Christmas lights along bustling downtown sidewalks, Beaux Arts theaters, and large department stores. Assigned to our Legation in Port-au-Prince following Pearl Harbor, the respect accorded her by Haiti's mercurial President, Elie Lescot, is invaluable in gaining access to medical attention when Malaria strikes her family.
Based on her riveting wartime diary, Jean brings to life for the first time her incredible journey as a mother with two young sons aboard a Liberty ship in an armed convoy having to survive multiple German air attacks at night in the Mediterranean to join her husband at the US Consulate, Port Sa'id, Egypt in 1944.
Eastern Starlight is about a remarkable woman of her era, not only because of the life she led, but the kind of person she was-----her moral character and compassion, loyalty to family and friends, willingness to put others above herself, acceptance of people of all walks of life, and courage when in peril. This is a compelling story that will resonate with readers of all ages.
