The Ambassador's Wife by Jennifer Steil
Narrated by Orlagh Cassidy and Euan Morton
Synopsis
When bohemian artist Miranda falls in love with Finn, the British ambassador to Mazrooq, a fictional Arab country on the Arabian peninsula, she finds herself thrust into a life for which she has no preparation. The couple and their toddler daughter live in a stately mansion with a staff to meet their every need, but for Miranda even this luxury comes at a price: the loss of freedom.
Trailed everywhere by bodyguards to protect her from the dangers of a country wracked by civil war and forced to give up the work she loves, Miranda finds her world shattered when she is taken hostage while hiking in the mountains—an act of terror with wide-reaching consequences.
As the novel weaves together past and present, it reveals how Finn and Miranda's idealism and the secrets they have each sought to hide have placed them and those who trust them in peril. When Miranda grows close to a child who shares her captivity, it becomes unclear whether even being set free could restore the simple happiness that once was hers and Finn's.
About the Narration
The audiobook features dual narration. Orlagh Cassidy narrates the chapters from Miranda's perspective, while Euan Morton narrates the chapters from Finn's perspective, the British ambassador. This narrative structure allows listeners to experience the story through both protagonists' viewpoints during the kidnapping crisis.
About Jennifer Steil
Jennifer Steil is an award-winning novelist and memoirist. She left the United States in 2006 to work as editor of the Yemen Observer newspaper in Sana'a, Yemen, where she lived for four years. Her first book, The Woman Who Fell From the Sky (2010), was a memoir about her experiences in Yemen. She began writing The Ambassador's Wife after she herself was briefly kidnapped when pregnant with her daughter in 2009—that experience became the opening scene of the novel.
The Ambassador's Wife won the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition Best Novel award (2013) and the Phillip McMath Post Publication book award (2016). It received critical acclaim from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, The Seattle Times, and The New York Times Book Review, and has been published in multiple languages including Italian, Bulgarian, Greek, and Polish. The Mark Gordon Company optioned the film rights with plans for a television miniseries starring Anne Hathaway.
About the Novel
The Ambassador's Wife explores themes of privilege, captivity, cross-cultural connection, and the compromises required in diplomatic life. Drawing on Steil's own experiences as a journalist in Yemen and as the wife of a British diplomat, the novel examines the tensions between freedom and security, artistic expression and political reality, and Western perspectives on Middle Eastern culture.
The novel's portrayal of Miranda's clandestine art classes with Muslim women, the challenges of diplomatic protocol, and the psychological impact of kidnapping are informed by Steil's firsthand knowledge of the region and diplomatic life.
Publication Details
Links
Purchase & Listen: Audible | Amazon Audiobook
Visit Jennifer Steil's official website for more information about the author and her other works.