Oh, to have led Valerie Barnes's life. While most married women of the 50s and 60s were firmly tied to hearth and home, Barnes was leading a jet-set life that even today many of us would kill for.

     British-born Barnes was 20 when World War II ended and she was looking for adventure. Brilliant at languages - she could speak both French and Spanish fluently - and a superstar at shorthand, a chance meeting and a bit of good luck landed her a short contract at the UN in Geneva as a translator. From there she never looked back.

     A holiday romance with a charming Frenchman saw her married and shortly thereafter, the mother of three small children, but neither change in her circumstances caused her stellar career to miss a beat. Promoted to the position of simultaneous interpreter, Barnes spent decades jetting around the world mixing it with prime ministers - Cambodia's Prince Sihanouk stated that Barnes was his English voice - and visiting countries at a time before tourism had taken off.

     That she has a lover to distract her from her philandering husband's exploits only adds spice to her story.

     A Foreign Affair is immensely entertaining - you want to pull out an old phrasebook and leave for parts unknown.