Come on down to Books on Beechwood on Saturday, March 12th and meet local Ottawa author David Holdsworth and illustrator Jean-H. Guilmette. They will be here signing their new book The Ambassador’s Camel: Undiplomatic Tales of Embassy Life between 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm.
The book is a collection of funny short stories on diplomatic life in a Canadian embassy in a fictional Asian country, along the lines of Lawrence Durrell’s famous spoof of the British Foreign Service, ESPRIT DE CORPS.
From the jacket:
“When politics and policy clash, politics always win. And in this case, senior diplomat Percy Williamson loses. At odds with Canada’s new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Percy draws an overseas assignment as ambassador to Bharalya, a small country in Asia that recently discovered a big cache of oil. When Percy and his wife Marilyn arrive in Bharalya they are quite unprepared for the experiences they will share and the eccentric people they will meet. There’s the king who’s addicted to collecting medals from foreign governments, a junior diplomat who impersonates his own foreign minister, a visiting minister caught by the press in a brothel, and a travel-averse diplomat reduced to jelly by his one and only trip outside the capital. Regularly erupting at the most awkward moments is the dreaded Bharali amoeba, scourge of the diplomatic intestinal tract. But all frivolity is set aside when the government threatens to close down the embassy; the Foreign Service springs into action, with surprising results.”
Be sure to stop by on Saturday, March 12 between 2:00pm and 4:00pm to meet David and Jean-H., have a chat, buy a book, and get it signed! We look forward to seeing you all then.