Jane Ferguson's gripping memoir, No Ordinary Assignment, traces with compassion, insight, and honesty her career as a foreign correspondent. Growing up in rural Ireland during the Troubles, Ferguson was familiar with sectarian violence, but she dove into hostility in a different context after studying Arabic in Yemen and focusing her reporting on the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa. Her narrative explores the challenges of reporting from high-risk conflict (and combat) zones, often as the only woman or the only Western correspondent, alongside her inner journey of learning to believe in herself and her work.
Ferguson details her love affair with the Middle East, which began at Arabic language school in Sana'a, Yemen, in 2008 and continued with jobs in Dubai and Beirut. Her reporter's eye comes through in her prose, as she captures vignettes from the field and from her time between assignments. Her deep love for the region, and for her job, contrast sharply with the violence she has witnessed, including embedding with rebel fighters in Homs, Syria, and reporting live from protests near Cairo's Rabaa Square during the Arab Spring. She candidly shares the risks of reporting from the field, including Western networks' reluctance to send reporters into combat zones and her subsequent lack of job (or any) security. Maintaining a romantic relationship also proved difficult; Ferguson weaves in her personal journey but always comes back to her work and her love for it.
Astute, compassionate, and detailed, No Ordinary Assignment is a thoughtful eyewitness account from a reporter whose perspective is gracious and wise. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams