author
Mary King Waddington
1833–1923
An American writer who turned life inside French political and diplomatic circles into vivid memoirs, she gives readers a rare, personal view of Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her books blend social observation, public events, and the sharp eye of someone who lived close to history.
4 Audiobooks
Chateau and Country Life in France
by Mary King Waddington
Italian Letters of a Diplomat's Wife: January-May, 1880; February-April, 1904
by Mary King Waddington
Letters of a Diplomat's Wife, 1883-1900
by Mary King Waddington
My First Years as a Frenchwoman, 1876-1879
by Mary King Waddington
About the author
Born in New York on April 28, 1833, Mary Alsop King Waddington was an American author who later made her life in France. She married the French statesman William Waddington in 1874, and her writing grew out of her experience moving between American roots and French public life.
She is best known for memoirs including Letters of a Diplomat's Wife, 1883-1900 and My First Years as a Frenchwoman, 1876-1879. These books draw on her years as the wife of a prominent French political figure and are valued for their lively picture of society, politics, and daily life in France during the early years of the Third Republic.
She also wrote about the First World War in My War Diary, recording the strain of wartime life and the changes she saw around her while living in France. Waddington died in Paris on June 30, 1923, leaving behind a body of memoir writing that offers an intimate window into a world usually seen only from the outside.