The Circe of the deserts

The narrative traces an adventurous Englishwoman who abandons England to travel across the Mediterranean and the Ottoman Near East, combining personal portraiture with on-the-ground travel reportage. She moves through ports and imperial capitals, undertakes desert caravans and archaeological excursions to ruined cities, and cultivates a reputation for towering presence, eccentricity, and contempt for social conventions. Encounters with diplomats, local leaders, and a variety of guides illuminate political and cultural textures, while vivid scene-setting records landscapes, ceremonies, and ancient monuments. The work balances episodic journeying, character study, and historical and topographical description.