La lectura de Las mil y una noches despert en un buen n mero de damas brit nicas, aristocr ticas y aventureras, la fascinaci n por un Oriente de harenes, bazares, caravanas y n madas beduinos. A comienzos del siglo XIX viajar m s all de El Cairo o Estambul era una peligrosa aventura: el pillaje, los desp ticos pach s turcos, las epidemias, las duras traves as por el desierto, echaban atr s a los viajeros m s curtidos.

Este libro recoge las apasionantes vidas de unas mujeres atra das por el mundo rabe que dejaron su huella en Oriente Pr ximo: lady Mary Montagu, la primera occidental en acceder al interior de los harenes otomanos, la exc ntrica lady Hester Stanhope, la hermosa lady Jane Digby, que vivi una apasionada historia de amor con un jefe beduino o, ya entrado el siglo XX, otras audaces exploradoras, arque logas y esp as al servicio del Imperio Brit nico como Gertrude Bell, que en calidad de secretaria para Oriente ayud a trazar las fronteras del actual Irak, la incansable Freya Stark y la famosa escritora de novelas polic acas Agatha Christie.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

The thrilling biographies of fascinating women who abandoned the comfort of their mansions for a nomadic life, and are still remembered in cities like Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, and Istanbul.

The Thousand and One Nights brought a good number of adventurous, aristocratic British women a fascination with an Orient full of harems, bazaars, caravans, and Bedouin nomads. At the beginning of the 19th century, traveling farther than Cairo or Istanbul was a dangerous adventure: muggings, tyrannical Turkish pashas, epidemics, and difficult journeys through the desert turned back even the most seasoned travelers.

This book gathers the thrilling stories of the women attracted by the Arabic world who left their mark on the Near East: Lady Mary Montagu, the first Westerner to gain access to the inside of an Ottoman harem; eccentric Lady Hester Stanhope; beautiful Lady Jane Digby, who had a passionate love story with a Bedouin chief; or, at the beginning of the 20th century, other daring explorers, archaeologists and spies for the British Empire such as Gertrude Bell who, as Secretary of the Orient, helped draw the borders of what is now Iraq; the tireless Freya Stark; and the famous crime writer Agatha Christie.