What's it like to cover news events and famous people while living in one of the world's most picturesque hideaways? John and Pegge (Parker) Hlavacek describe an exotic lifestyle of which most writers only dream. After living and working in India during the first five years of their marriage (1952-1957), the Hlavaceks moved their five children and Indian nanny to New York when John accepted a one-year fellowship from the Council on Foreign Relations. When the fellowship ended, the Hlavaceks moved to Jamaica where John and Pegge supported the family by providing freelance writing and...

Pegge Mackiernan was a young widow and single mother of twins working as Vice Consul in the American Embassy in Pakistan in 1951. Her husband had been an undercover CIA agent who was mercilessly killed by Tibetan border guards while evacuating newly Communist China. In her work at the Embassy, she met John Hlavacek. A passionate international reporter with humble Midwestern values, John convinced Pegge to bring her children to India. They fell in love and wed in 1952, adding three more children of their own. Pegge's life and career were nothing if not spontaneous, seemingly weaved by fate's...