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A Woman in Arabia by Gertrude Bell: book review



A Woman in Arabia: The Writings of the Queen of the Desert (2015) is the semi-autobiographical work of archaeologist, mountaineer, linguist, traveller, adventurer, and nation-builder Gertrude Bell. Editor Georgina Howell compiles Bell’s letters, diaries, articles, reports, books, and other material to form an account of Bell’s life, particularly in the early 1900s. 

British Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) is the female Lawrence of Arabia. In fact, she was colleagues with T.E. Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia, who was 20 years her junior. She was friends with everyone, from Sir Winston Churchill to King Faisal of Iraq. 

Controversial and much-maligned, she was influential in creating an independent Iraq and the Museum of Iraq. Unlucky in love, she commits herself to work and an adventurous life. 

This is not a linear account. It is sectioned into periods of her life – as The Linguist, The Mountaineer, The Desert Traveller, etc. Unfortunately, it is not a travelogue, as it only partially tells of her travels through Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and so on – mostly on camel or horseback. Nicole Kidman plays Gertrude Bell in the 2015 film, Queen of the Desert, but that too forms only part of her life. 

I thought the most vivid section was her mountaineering, with her fellow male mountaineers climbing on her shoulders – completely acceptable to her as she helps them up the steep and dangerous slopes. Bell’s own writing recounts the treacherous attempts, dressed initially in a skirt, on Europe’s famed mountains. Acknowledged and respected by males and females alike – politicians, travellers, archaelogists, historians, war correspondents, and humanitarians – she crammed a lot into her life. Even Lawrence of Arabia thought she was exciting and immensely knowlegeable and insightful about the Middle East.  

There are some annoying aspects of the writing as the editor intrudes into the biography, often judgementally and apologetically. However, this is a good reference work of the varied aspects of Bell’s life, her achievements, and all that she does in the pursuit of her passions.




MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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