I ended up sharing a flat with some other chaps who were in my husband’s office. I was the first expat wife in my husband’s company. When I closed down my business (I was in a partnership) to move to Dubai, I found it absolutely devastating. Career has always been really important to me. And I was really happy in my career and didn’t want to give it up. If you don’t, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.” And thirty years later, we are still living abroad… Why didn’t you want to go to Dubai?Īt that time I was running my own business and doing quite well. But my husband (he was my fiancé at the time) said: “Come for six months. But still, I hadn’t imagined living in Dubai and, in fact, did not want to go there at all. I had done a French degree and a year abroad, so I was already travelling before I met my husband. Before that happened, I already knew I loved being overseas. My boyfriend had gone to Dubai for work and I had to marry him to follow him. I went abroad the day after I got married, when I was 26. What got you started on this peripatetic life? Instead you have lived in Dubai, Oman, Norway, Kuala Lumpur, Brunei, and the Netherlands.

A few years back, Stamford was rated the best place to live by the Sunday Times. You were born in Stamford, a town in Lincolnshire, UK. First let’s do a quick review of all the places you’ve called “home”. * * * Welcome, Jo, to the Displaced Nation. Is it any wonder, given that Jo is her own best example? Among the many places where she’s lived and worked are three I know well: my native Malaysia, my husband’s home country of Britain, and my current home of the Netherlands, where Jo, too, now resides.Īnd now let’s hear about Jo’s experience as a serial expat-and how living in so many different places has fed her creative life. Congratulations, Jo!Īs Jo reported to Ana, one of her own books, A Career in Your Suitcase, remains one of Summertime’s top five bestsellers. Summertime, by the way, is turning 10 years old this year. A couple of years ago, another expat author, Ana McGinley, interviewed Jo about her decision to found Summertime Publishing, which specializes in publishing books by and for people living abroad. This is not Jo’s first time on the Displaced Nation. Hello Displaced Nationers! It is my pleasure to present to you the venerable Jo Parfitt, who has been an expat for more than three decades while also carving out a career for herself as author, journalist, writing mentor/teacher, and publisher.

Columnist Doreen Brett is back, and she’s accompanied by another “great” in the expat publishing world, Jo Parfitt, who has published 30+ books herself while also helping at least a hundred new expat writers publish their first great works.

Far from the maddening crowds