description: This is a warm and enthusiastic tale of a young provincial bride who travels to Tripoli in a BA VC10 ‘plane. She gauchely wears the same cream bouclé suit that she had first put on fifteen months previously when travelling to Guernsey for her honeymoon. But once landed she is quick to adapt to an expatriate life far removed from her previous suburban life, commuting from South Norwood, London. Packed in her suitcase are four homely cotton shift dresses that her sister had made for her in readiness for warmer climes. The length of these dresses, just on the knee, is determined by local custom and not the latest London fashion.  Everything is beyond past experience, she has nothing to relate to, but nevertheless finds herself happy to live in the suburbs of Tripoli in a roughly furnished apartment with tiled floors and fly netting at the windows. A day after her arrival she sits out on the first floor balcony of the apartment and bathed in October sunshine she writes her first letter home, telling her parents of the wonder of her surroundings; a palm tree that is so tall it blocks the light from a side-window; sheep and goats wandering in the sand road beneath grazing on weeds that sprout from boundary walls; donkeys braying in the distance; the call to prayer reverberating over nearby wasteland. These letters home form the basis of the book telling of a way of life long since gone.  Jean’s story is made up with extracts from this correspondence, full of detail that lends an authentic flavour to the period being portrayed. This carefree way of life continued for three years until the day of departure arrived on 1st September 1969 when Jean and her husband awoke to discover the borders closed and a curfew in progress.
title: Letters from Libya 1966-1969
publisher: Close Publications