Desert Queen

The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia

By: Janet Wallach

Narrated by: Jean Gilpin

Turning her back on her privileged life in Victorian England, Gertrude Bell (1868-1926), fired by her innate curiosity, journeyed the world and became fascinated with all things Arab. Traveling the length and breadth of the Arab region, armed with a love for its language and its people, she not only produced several enormously popular books based on her experiences but became instrumental to the British foreign office.

When World War I erupted, and the British needed the loyalty of the Arab leaders, it was Gertrude Bell's work and connections that helped provide the brain for T. E. Lawrence's military brawn. After the war she participated in both the Paris and Cairo conferences, played a major role in creating the modern Middle East, and was generally considered the most powerful woman in the British Empire.

In this incident-packed biography, Janet Wallach reveals a woman whose achievements and independent spirit were especially remarkable for her times, and who brought the same passion and intensity to her explorations as she did to her rich romantic life. Too long eclipsed by Lawrence's fame, Gertrude Bell emerges in this first major biography as a woman whose accomplishments rank as crucial to world history (especially in light of the continuing geopolitical importance of the Middle East) and whose life was a grand adventure.

©1996 Janet Wallach (P)2012 Random House Audio

Gertrude Bell

Fabulous book. Could not book the book down. Best I have read in a very long time.

Great read

This a biography of an amazing woman who helped shaped the face of the Middle East.

Less a history and more an inspirational story

Bell is an impressive character and her story is amazing. My impression is that this is written for young readers. Over and over again the author emphasizes how and why it is all the more remarkable that Bell is female. Informed readers will find this overbearing. But, perhaps, and I think probably, this is written for readers who might not have a lot of context.

The character of Gertrude Bell

Bell was a fascinating person with big virtues and big warts. There were several sides to her personality, brilliant mind yet blind in romantic choices, never marrying yet yearning to form a family. Gertrude left her imprint on Iraq but was ignored by many of the British foreign service in her life. Being a woman was her biggest obstacle although she enjoyed her feminine qualities of fine dining, designing a lovely garden and wearing a fashionable wardrobe. All in all, Gertrude Bell was the queen of the desert in every way!

'Excellent

Wonderful background to this country created in the early 20th century and torn apart in the 21st; so sad.

what is personhood

A richly written story of a female character in history. The author depicts Eleanor Bell as a female with both intelligence and feminine charm trying to be seen as whole person in the late 1800s into the 1900s. The richness of the story is greatly due the copious letters and diaries written by Eleanor heslrself. The author does justice to describing the area now call Iran.

A woman ahead of time

This story of Gertrude Bell is fascinating because of her forthright determination, superior intellect, and political acumen. These qualities, combined with her love of the Middle East and British patriotism, made her a key player before and after World War I, a time when the country of Iraq was established. Far from a feminist, she nonetheless never suffered a fool gladly and always treated men, even her superiors, as equals. My only problem with the book is its length. It seemed to go on forever. But the description of her ways of truly befriending Arab men and the machinations of the British make for a compelling story.

A very interesting book

What did you love best about Desert Queen?

Details of the Arab world in the early 20th century and the extraordinary personality of Gertrude Bell

What other book might you compare Desert Queen to and why?

One cannot compare apples and oranges. Each biography is therefore different because of the different personalties and situarions

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The narrator did an excellent job , especially with all the arab names

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

That would have been impossible and there was so much information one had to pause to digest each bit

Any additional comments?

The author took too long to describe Bell's character and personalikty and I preferred the last third with all the facts and details

Desert travel and politics

She was the female Lawrence of Arabia.
She struggles mightily to have a career when this was not allowed for women. Her solo traveling in the desert and mountain climbing were part of her early life.

AMAZING!

Well worth the listen from both a historical perspective and an inspirational one. The extraordinary level of Ms. Bell’s detail brings historical context to the very complex politics of the Middle East. Told through her lens of a westerner who fell in love with Mesopotamia making it her purpose in life to protect it provided a relatable human element.

I greatly appreciated reading about a historical female who played an influential role in a male dominated world. Her unfailing belief in her purpose is truly inspirational.