Fragments from a Mobile Life

Book excerpt: Literary Nonfiction. Starting in China, ending in Virginia, and girdling the equator, Sullivan's mobile life, has been lived in evolving fragments of time and place. Rooted in family, her life spans changes in the post-colonial world and women's lives, told in short, lively stories, some first published as columns in the Huffington Post. "The reader of FRAGMENTS FROM A MOBILE LIFE is carried along on a remarkable journey. You will want to read passages out loud and share with friends and family. Here is a life of adventure, love, and sadness, but always lived to the fullest with keen insight and deep observation. It is an American life, but one that draws on the wonder and variety of the world. Margaret Sullivan evokes the universal while regaling us with the particular. Whether raising children, making friends in a strange place, or planning for a new school amidst the destruction of earthquake and tsunami, each will see a part of him or herself here in the essence of life's experiences. One can read straight through, as I did, although even best perhaps is to browse from subject to subject. Whichever way one begins, I can guarantee you will return often and keep this book well thumbed and handy on the shelf."--Ambassador Robert G. Rich, Jr. US Foreign Service, Ret. "Born in China, a Foreign Service wife in posts around the equator for most of her career, writer and artist Margaret Sullivan possesses a generous and observant eye. This terrific read illustrates how to thrive during fractured times without losing your values or your spirit. I read the chapter 'To Market' and Nigeria appeared before my eyes with all its rich colors and smells. Terrific!"--Norma Watkins "With a fresh voice and a frank look back at 10 countries, 29 homes, and more than 60 years of marriage to a career diplomat, Margaret Sullivan chronicles the contributions of Foreign Service Wives to twentieth-century American public diplomacy. Reminding us that such 'representative families' are unpaid and perhaps unnoticed by the American people, they are at the same time almost always on display. In a tale as pungent and spicy as the food she so lovingly describes, FRAGMENTS FROM A MOBILE LIFE is the story of a life-long love affair with Asia and the wider world."--Dr. Janet Steele