Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16399 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 356 pages

Review
A dramatic and detailed account of her formidable life...Howell fills the book with enlivening detail...A fluent, celebratory and conservative biography, skating over the injustices of imperialism and taking the kind of romantic approach that makes it read like a Hollywood script-in-waiting. --The Guardian

Howell's painstaking research does justice to Bell's political achievements but it is her detailed account of the young Gertrude, careering through the Arabian deserts, bearding sheikhs in their tents and bravely enduring the most extreme of conditions which enthrals. --The Irish Times

Sunday Times Culture
'Howell paints a picture of a generous woman struggling against the sexual prejudices of her time.'

Sunday Telegraph Seven
'You don't have to share Gertrude Bell's passions in order to be
her biographer, but it helps'

Customer Reviews

Epic saga of an Astonishing Woman!
I have just had the pleasure of reading Georgina Howell's and then Janet Wallach's biography, in quick succession. I am turning into something of a Gertrude fan! If you're looking for an accessible, entertaining insight into Gertrude as a person; then this is the book for you. Howell's heavy use of extracts from her letters and diaries allows Bell's wit and lyricism to shine through. This, interwoven with attractive prose combines to convey the incredible romance of her story; from her doomed love affairs, mountaineering exploits, desert adventures, translations of Sufi poetry, to her moving relationship with her Father. Howell's unashamedly partisan approach makes it all the more enjoyable for the reader!

She makes a point of including a detailed account of Bell's considerable mountaineering achievements which I found quite gripping. She was after all considered by many to be one the best, if not the best female climber of her time. I was glad to have been given insight into this part of her life. It makes you realise the level of frustration she must have experienced later on, when confined to a desk job during the early part of the first world war.

Howell runs into difficulty when tackling the politics that led to the birth of Iraq, in which of course Bell plays an integral role. I found her explanation a little confused. Maybe it suffered from having been condensed a little too much. She certainly doesn't attempt to place the events in some historical context, despite the obvious relevance to the current problems in the Middle East. Janet Wallach's account fared better at a clear explanation of the politics, but neither adequately weighed up her contribution to the success or failure of her newly created Iraq.

(It seemed to me this region was just not ready for national government, and that Bell made many pragmatic decisions within the confines of an extremely complex and vacillating Foreign policy and without her close relationship with the peoples, landscape and history of Iraq, the constitutional monarchy would not have lasted as long as it did.)

So, Howell offers us a moving and personal story of this wonderfully multi-faceted woman. The irony is that it's taken an anti-suffragist woman for me to appreciate a culture that previously, for me, was only synonymous with misogyny.

Amazing woman- entertaining book
I had heard bits and pieces of Miss Bells life story, but until you read it in full you dont realise how before her time she was. From her early (VERY english) encounters with the bedouin of Arabia, to her sterling war work, her ardent love of mountaineering and attempts to prop up the newly instituted independant kingdoms of Jordan and Iraq she comes across as an indomitable and unstoppable force of nature. Given the current lamentable state of the middle east you cant help wishing she had been born a century later. What makes this even more poignant are her sad little attempts at romance with men that allow you to see the person beneath the matriach. Beautiful.

captivating!
I don't normally read biographies, but I was handed this on holiday and was completely captivated. Gertrude Bell is the most extraordinary woman and Georgina Howell writes simply but beautifully, making it impossible to put down. It's also a fantastic way to learn about the history of the British involvement in the Arab world and to understand many of the complexities which are still incredibly current today. I recommend it to everyone!