Embassy Wife

May 1, 2021
Amanda Evans left behind a high-powered job to serve as a "trailing spouse" for her husband, a mediocre professor who received a Fulbright to study Namibian history. Mark Evans has an ulterior motive: he's searching for the woman he fell in love with twenty years ago in the Peace Corps. Persephone Wilder, the queen bee of Windhoek's expat community, is happy to have Amanda in her circle, especially if Amanda will take her side against her rival, Mila Shilongo, the glamorous wife of the Namibian transportation minister. Amanda's attempts at finding meaningful work are quickly thwarted, and navigating the daily realities of expat life becomes a full-time job. Plus, someone in the community is a CIA plant, and Persephone's new charity, Tusk!, is an example of Instagram influencer activism at its most absurd. Crouch (Abroad) spent several years in Namibia, and her knowledge of expat life adds realism to this observant, funny satire. Unpredictable twists lead to an ending where everyone may not get what they want, but they get what they need. Suggest this one to fans of Meg Wolitzer and Maria Semple.

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May 31, 2021
Crouch (Abroad) pulls off an entertaining and insightful exposé of diplomatic life in Namibia with the story of three women whose children attend an international school in the country’s capital. Persephone, a slightly daft, often drunk, and always patriotic American “embassy wife” takes over the school’s International Day fund-raiser from Mila, a beautiful but imperious Namibian with a mysterious past. Amanda, the newbie “trailing spouse,” whose husband persuaded her to leave a high-powered job in Silicon Valley, is bored. All three are married to creeps with secrets: Persephone’s husband is counsel to the American ambassador; Mila’s is Namibia’s transportation minister; and Amanda’s is a Fulbright scholar, whose stint in the Peace Corps in Namibia 20 years earlier was cut short after his involvement in a car accident. Amanda’s socializing with Persephone leads to an effort to protect rhinos, one at a time (“Personally protecting it, I mean. By visiting it. And... you know. Patrolling the area,” Persephone explains); as they scale up the project, their husbands’ misdeeds surface. Crouch presses her female characters to their limits, reaching notes of genuine triumph without sacrificing the wry comedy, while the red dust and heat of Namibia radiate off the page. This is a blast. Agent: Rob McQuilkin, Massie & McQuilkin.

May 15, 2021
Two American women uncover life-altering secrets while living abroad. Crouch's new novel follows Persephone Wilder, a career embassy wife, and Amanda Evans, a Silicon Valley COO-turned-"Trailing Spouse," as they navigate their lives in Namibia. Persephone spends her days acting as the leader of the other embassy wives, worrying over rhinos, drinking too much, and carrying on a rivalry with Mila Shilongo, the wife of Namibia's minister of transportation. Smarter than she seems, Persephone also believes she's discovered her husband's secret: That he's a CIA agent posing as a diplomat. Uprooted from her comfortable life in California, Amanda is coming to terms with the loss of her career, her daughter's unhappiness, and the distance (and sometimes disdain) she feels for Mark, her needy husband. Mark, who lived in Namibia for a year after college, has received a Fulbright scholarship to study a holocaust that occurred there--though that's not his only reason for returning. Twenty years ago, Mark was in an accident that "shattered his leg, and everything else," and--unbeknownst to his wife-- he's returned to make things right. As Persephone, Amanda, and Mila try at something like friendship, their seemingly disparate worlds begin to collide--and their lives as they know it change forever. As the novel begins to solidify and the inevitable is confirmed, Crouch throws another absurd--though not unwelcome--plot twist into the mix. One of the novel's greatest strengths is the omniscient third-person narration that oscillates focus between main and minor characters. The structure helps heighten the tension between characters, the past and the present, and Namibians and Americans. In addition to sketching complex characters with rich backstories, Crouch excels at moving the plot forward while not missing any opportunity to observe the human condition. With wit and tenderness, the novel explores the complicated nature of race, power, marriage, colonization, diplomacy, and community. A sharp, funny, page-turning romp.

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June 1, 2021

Crouch (Abroad) examines the lives of three families in Namibia. Amanda Evans left Silicon Valley to join her husband Mark in Namibia as he does historical research. She struggles with the heat, her daughter Meg's distress over the move, and the intricacies of embassy life. She is quickly befriended by Persephone Wilder, wife of embassy counsel Adam. Persephone enjoys shepherding new arrivals like Amanda. While Amanda is uncomfortable with her privilege as a white woman, Persephone doesn't appear to care about her own. Which may be the reason for the friction between her and Mila Shilongo, wife of the Namibian minister of transportation. Mila and her husband Josephat both grew up in extreme poverty in Namibia and now have risen to dizzying heights of wealth and power. As Amanda forms a friendship with Mila, and their daughters do the same, she begins to appreciate her adopted home. But beneath the surface of their everyday lives, secrets and lies bubble away. Just as Amanda discovers shattering truths about Mark, Meg is embroiled in an international incident. VERDICT Crouch does an excellent job of bringing her characters to life and conveying the beauty and challenges of life in Namibia through their eyes. Recommended for readers who enjoy armchair travel, well-drawn characters, twisty plots, and complex relationships.--Julie Ciccarelli, Tacoma P.L., WA

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