Facinating and lovely, tender and critical, Daughters of Britannia is a good, solid pop-history book. It's narrative enough to be interesting, and well-researched enough to be quotable.

As an added bonus, the subject matter, the lives and times of diplomatic wives, is exotic and dramatic enough to keep anyone interested. From the earliest ambassadors to the courts of Paris and Russia to Katie Hickman's own mother, marrying a diplomat has meant taking on a diplomatic role, and this glimpse into that life is really interesting.