A Stranger in Baghdad

“An intimate, intricate portrait of how people’s lives are jostled and remade . . . an engrossing read.”—Washington Independent Review of Books

“A stirring novel about a family—and their involvement in Iraqi and British politics—who resist difficult times in Iraq, including political changes that have defined and highlighted their lives.”—World Literature Today

“Diane, a young English nurse, marries Ibrahim, an Iraqi doctor, and returns with him to Baghdad in 1937 to live in his family house on the banks of the Tigris. The couple raise two sons—Ramzi, an air force pilot, and Ziad, a poet—and daughter, Mona, torn between her English and Iraqi heritage. . . .This story of heartbreak and perseverance illustrates the difficult choices people face when they are swept up in the capricious flow of history.”—AramcoWorld

"The mastery of this novel is that the author gives equal importance to all the intricacies that she writes."—Middle East Monitor

"This intergenerational drama is deftly written with graceful prose and psychological acuity. . . . Loudon pens the history of Western involvement in Iraq, dating back to the 1930s, with stunning acumen and imagination."—The New Arab

“A crisis of family and identity . . . recommend[ed].”—Enterprise

“[A] sweeping debut novel. . . . a meditation on the impact of colonialism”—Daily Hampshire Gazette

"A haunting, beautifully written book about twentieth century Baghdad and the long aftermath of colonialism. Full of subtle, empathetic details that ring like bells, intricately plotted with unforgettable twists, this book will stay with you long after you think you finished it."—Annia Ciezadlo, author of Day of Honey

"A Stranger in Baghdad is vivid and fascinating. There is an elegance to the writing which makes every page distinctive. I found it completely enthralling."—Lissa Evans, author of Crooked Heart

"Original, beautifully written and intriguing. Elizabeth Loudon is an exciting new voice."—Katie Fforde, author of Stately Pursuits

"A page-turner that is also full of marvellous description and atmosphere. It feels beautifully true and of its time but with a contemporary sensibility. The conflict between Britain and Iraq at a political and a family level is brilliantly done, with the cross-cutting allegiances dividing and uniting in a web of love, ambition and lies."—Sofka Zinovieff, author Putney

“An intriguing and thoughtfully worked examination of one family’s cross-cultural collisions between Britain and Iraq.”—Justin Marozzi, author Baghdad and Islamic Empires

"The story of Diane and Ibrahim and their torn loyalties to family and nation, and how their children grow up in post-royalist police-state Iraq, is told with mesmerizing power. Elizabeth Loudon's mastery of the historical, cultural as well as psychological details of such a narrative is truly moving."—Rana Haddad, author of The Unexpected Love Objects of Dunya Noor

"Intriguing and atmospheric"—Alice Jolly, author of Mary Ann Sate, Imbecile