Susanne Fischer Meine Frauen-WG im Irak oder Die Villa am Rande des Wahnsinns (The Villa On the Brink of Insanity) Piper Verlag, September 2006, 249 pp ISBN: 3-89029-325-5 There are many sides to war, of course, and to the re-forming of a country in its aftermath. Months have passed since the official 'end' of the war in Iraq, but since then every side of human nature has been on display, not least human courage. Courage and a desire to help by passing on useful talents are what induced Susanne Fischer and four other female journalists (doubtless to the great concern of friends and family) - from Germany, Australia, the USA, South Korea and Iraq respectively - to travel to Kurdish Northern Iraq to develop what under Saddam Hussein had been unthinkable - a free press. The Institute of War and Peace Reporting, the charitable organisation by which they were employed, aims to promote democracy in former dictatorships or countries which have suffered civil war, and trains independent journalists. Thus five women who under other circumstances might never have become friends, form a close unit in their shared lodgings - a villa that provides them with a certain freedom but still thrusts them into potential misunderstandings: the learning experience is anything but one-sided. The five women couldn't help but cause a stir in patriarchal Kurdistan, not only bringing with them their knowledge of the workings of the media, but also acting as representatives of Western women. While the local women might wear jeans and make-up, the emancipation was sometimes only skin-deep: how, they asked, could these five live alone without a man as head of the household, and yet have male visitors from other parts of the world? This was just one of the tricky situations to be negotiated in a year of fascinating experiences. The personal narrative is divided into the seasons of the year, and works well on several fronts: Susanne Fischer's voice is an engaging one, and her story a valuable contribution to our understanding of the quagmire that is the 'situation in Iraq'; it is also a very helpful introduction to what is Kurdistan, a place which officially doesn't exist and yet is home, physically and/or spiritually, to an enormous number of people. A well-written narrative that deserves a place on many bookshelves.