Friday, April 18, 2014

A peak into No Place for a Lady

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader.

I started No Place for a Lady by Barbara Hodgson, a nonfiction book about women travelers in the 1800s. I haven't be able to read much - this has been a very busy week - but so far it has been interesting.
The rumble of hooves echoed across the desert long before the horses and their riders materialized, heightening an already palpable excitement. Rumors had been circulating in Palmyra for days that a caravan would be coming from Damascus, bringing a most unusual visitor. As the Palmyrans turned their darkly tanned faces towards the hills to the west, a cry rang out; someone had spotted distant figures. Responding as though to a signal, hundreds of men leapt onto their horses and, brandishing swords, raced through the ruins of Zenobia's fabled city to meet the new arrivals.

Zenobia ? Ah - Zenobia was a 3rd-century Queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Syria, who led a famous revolt against the Roman Empire.

For The Friday 56 hosted at Freda's Voice here is something from page 56 ... 

The first woman to reveal the secrets of the harem to the West was Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, whose travels took her to Turkey in 1717 with her husband, ambassador Edward Wortley Montagu. Her account, in the form of letters, was first circulated in 1725. Filled with scandalous tales of her visits to harems and baths in Adrianople (Edirne) and Constantinople, the letters were daring not only because they were the first believable descriptions of such places but also because they elaborated on the state of voluptuousness found therein.   

Lady Montagu in Turkish dress by Jean-Étienne Liotard,
ca. 1756, Palace on the Water in Warsaw

5 comments:

  1. So descriptive, that beginning... I wanted to keep going.
    The 56 I feel was more of a history lesson... and I liked that too!

    Happy Easter!

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  2. I enjoy a good non-fiction now and then.
    Ruty@Reading...Dreaming

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  3. Oo, I need to read this and also buy it for my sister! She loves reading about lady explorers.

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  4. I love the 1800's. This book sounds really good.

    THANKS for sharing.

    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    My Book Beginnings

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