Daughter of the Desert: The Remarkable Life of Gertrude Bell, Georgina Howell

Archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist, author, poet, photographer, mountaineer, and nation builder, Gertrude Bell was born in 1868 into a world of privilege and plenty. But she turned her back on all that for her passion for the Arab peoples, becoming the architect of the independent kingdom of Iraq and seeing its first king Faisal safely onto the throne in 1921. Daughter of the Desert is her story, vividly told and impeccably researched, drawing on Gertrudes own writings, both published and unpublished. It is a compelling portrait of a woman who transcended the restrictions of her class and age and, in so doing, created a remarkable and enduring legacy.