This is one of those books that really makes me frustrated that Goodreads doesn't allow half stars. If I could, I would actually give this one 3.5, not the four shown above. The depth and breadth of the material, and the completeness with which the author describes the life of her subject, is definitely impressive. This is clearly a solid piece of work, and very admirable in that respect. Despite that, however, or maybe at least partially due to the overwhelming density of detail here, the book is a bit dry, and the 418 pages feels very long. So it only gets three stars for enjoyability. (Might not have made it through if not for the fact that it's our book group book this month.) That said, though, I am glad I read it, and I am very glad I know now about Gertrude Bell, whose life was definitely worth this level of attention.