1. The Age, Saturday July 10, 2004
'Although capably written, it's the story itself that carries the reader along. It begins in drab, postwar London, where the 20-year-old Barnes, who has a gift for languages, studies to be a secretary.'
2. Weekend Australian, July 17-18 2004
Tossed into translation by Sally Blakeney
'Have you studied those shadowy figures lurking in the shots in which officials, who speak not a word of each other's language, sign momentous agreements and enthusiastically shake hands?'
3. Sydney Morning Herald, July 2004
Bruce Elder - Non Fiction
'An interesting snapshot of life in the early years of U.N., before international travel became as normal as catching a bus.' 'Barnes' writing technique, which is heavily dependent on anecdotes and vignettes, is entertaining.'
4. Australian Country Style, August 2004
Good Reading by Annabel Frost
'Who are the world's cleverest people? My vote would go to simultaneous interpreters. ...Between bouts of parenting, Valerie would fly first-class to five-star hotels and presidential palaces to interpret for world leaders and other celebrities.'
5. Herald Sun, 14 August 2004
Love and power, working for the UN, by Harbant Gill
'Several coincidences run thgough the matter-of-fact memoir of the multilingual, British-born, world-bred author who now lives on the south coast of New South Wales with her second husband. It was a work colleague who, through a road accident in Geneva, met the man who invited Barnes to the United Nations to work as an interpreter.'
6. Vogue:
'Oh, to have led Valerie Barnes' life!'