About the Book: Queen of the Desert: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell
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. Queen of the Desert is her
story, vividly told and impeccably researched, drawing on Gertrudes own
writings, both published and unpublished. Previously published as Daughter of
the Desert, this is a compelling portrait of