This is the story of a woman entering a consular career on her own after the death of her Foreign Service officer husband. She describes the consular world with humor, empathy, and anecdotes.She served for twenty years as a consular officer in four posts, first looking after American hippies in India and after that a huge American business community in Hong Kong. She was principal officer in the Yucatán area of Mexico, then consul general in Bucharest, Romania, before and after a revolution that resulted in the demise of dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu."This fine memoir, told with much humor, details the many high points of Young's time abroad and traces her growth from a diplomat's wife to one of the best representatives of the U.S. government."-JOHN NEEDHAM, former UPI correspondent and L.A. Times reporter and editorial writer "Wonderfully readable and sharp as a stiletto, Peregrina tells the memorable story of a State Department wife who, after the untimely death of her husband, reinvents herself as an American consul general."-JOHN POWERS, Movie Critic, Vogue"Ginny Young emerges as a warm, self-deprecating, thoroughly committed Foreign Service officer whose approach to the world around her is tinged with a keen appreciation of the ridiculous. Her writing style is lively and engaging, strong in the many instances in which her values and opinions emerge."-BRANDON GROVE, U.S. Ambassador (ret.)"As unique as its author, this story takes us on a journey that includes the Hill, Africa, Western Europe, India, Hong Kong, Mexico, and Romania during the collapse of the Ceauşescu dictatorship, with cameo stops in Haiti and Afghanistan... A must read for anyone who may doubt the importance and variety of consular work, the "human face" of the Foreign Service."-NICHOLAS VELIOTES, U.S. Ambassador (ret.) "Anyone would be lucky to lead a life as full and meaningful as Ginny Carson Young's. Even more, we would be lucky if we could capture it so elegantly and with such wit in prose."-BOB PACKWOOD, former U.S. Senator