Gertrude Bell led a very interesting life and is a very important historical figure. Howell portrayed her character well and brought Gertrude to life. However, I found the style of writing very hard to get into. I often found parts of the book were dry, repetitive and some chapters were longer than necessary, for example the constant repetition of her clothing, her foldable bath and the chapter on mountaineering was longer than needed. I really struggled to get to the end of the book - I had started to lose interest around half way into the book.