What an absolutely astounding story the life of Gertrude Bell is. Her accomplishments would be amazing in any era, but that she achieved this magnitude of explorations, adventures and political progress in the middle eastern deserts as a woman in the early 20th century, it is mind-blowing. Howell did an incredibly thorough and detailed job of recounting Belks adventures and accomplishments. If I were to have any criticisms of the book it would be that I felt it was more thorough at points than perhaps it needed to be- the minutiae and in parts the sentimentality were more than I thought were necessary. I also wondered about the anglocentrism of its retelling and whether the story was perhaps as circumspect as it could have been about Britain’s “generosity” in establishing the borders and governance of Iraq But Bell’s story is quite incredible, and it is clear that this woman was a force of nature and well ahead of her time in her independence, sense of adventure, and, impressively, her moral compass and dedication to incredibly difficult and complicated work.