A crisis of family and identity in A Stranger in Baghdad

? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

A Stranger in Baghdad is Elizabeth Loudon’s debut novel blending themes of family, identity, and the volatile blending of several cultures as it is set against the backdrop of the Iraqi invasion in 2003. The intergenerational saga also transports us back to 1937 when psychiatrist Mona Haddad’s mother, nurse Diane Cutler, meets a young Iraqi doctor, Ibrahim Haddad. When the couple weds and travels to Iraq, the socio-political context plays out within the larger family: The bride’s in-laws perceive her as an outsider, particularly as British and American meddling in Iraq increases over time. This sentiment persists, even as she is employed as a nanny for the Royal Family and begins a friendship with Duncan Claybourne, a British Embassy officer. But the estrangement continues as Diane gives birth to three children and raises them in the country. Eventually the feeling becomes mutual, as Diane gradually begins to feel superior to those who surround her as a daughter of the Empire.