Freya Stark

Traveller and explorer, woman of letters, photographer and an experienced Arabist whose secret propaganda activities during World War II established her as a spokeswoman on Middle East affairs, Freya Stark is a living legend. Does exceptional achievement justify the hyperbole, or is Freya Stark's reputation entirely a product of her own highly skilled self-invention? After hearing a chance remark discrediting Freya's successes as a traveller, Molly Izzard begins with a pampered old woman living in the tiny hill village of Asolo in North Italy - the legend herself, her appearance and her conversation all carefully groomed for public presentation. From this elusive beginning, Molly Izzard traces back the fragile thread of the shaping of an identity. Mrs Izzard reveals a myriad personality, an adept self-publicist and manipulator of other people, but also a woman of courage, tenacity and enthusiasm, who reaches her centenary in 1993. Molly Izzard has also written "Smelling the Breezes", "A Private Life" and "The Gulf".