
Desert Queen
The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $27.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Jean Gilpin
-
By:
-
Janet Wallach
About this listen
Turning her back on her privileged life in Victorian England, Gertrude Bell (1868-1926), fired by her innate curiosity, journeyed the world and became fascinated with all things Arab. Traveling the length and breadth of the Arab region, armed with a love for its language and its people, she not only produced several enormously popular books based on her experiences but became instrumental to the British foreign office.
When World War I erupted, and the British needed the loyalty of the Arab leaders, it was Gertrude Bell's work and connections that helped provide the brain for T. E. Lawrence's military brawn. After the war she participated in both the Paris and Cairo conferences, played a major role in creating the modern Middle East, and was generally considered the most powerful woman in the British Empire.
In this incident-packed biography, Janet Wallach reveals a woman whose achievements and independent spirit were especially remarkable for her times, and who brought the same passion and intensity to her explorations as she did to her rich romantic life. Too long eclipsed by Lawrence's fame, Gertrude Bell emerges in this first major biography as a woman whose accomplishments rank as crucial to world history (especially in light of the continuing geopolitical importance of the Middle East) and whose life was a grand adventure.
©1996 Janet Wallach (P)2012 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Flirting with Danger
- The Mysterious Life of Marguerite Harrison, Socialite Spy
- By: Janet Wallach
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born a privileged child of America’s Gilded Age, Marguerite Harrison rebelled against her mother’s ambitions, married the man she loved, was widowed at thirty-seven, and set off on a life of adventure. Hired as a society reporter, when America entered World War I she applied to Military Intelligence to work as a spy. Over a decade, Harrison’s mysterious adventures took her to Europe, Baghdad, and the Far East, as a socialite, secret agent, and documentary filmmaker. Janet Wallach captures Harrison’s daring and glamour in this stranger-than-fiction history of a woman drawn to the impossible.
-
-
The rich descriptions of the characters brought them to life.
- By askmurphy on 07-10-24
By: Janet Wallach
-
Gertrude Bell
- Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations
- By: Georgina Howell
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
She has been called the female Lawrence of Arabia, which, while not inaccurate, fails to give Gertrude Bell her due. She was at one time the most powerful woman in the British Empire: a nation builder, the driving force behind the creation of modern-day Iraq. Born in 1868 into a world of privilege, Bell turned her back on Victorian society, choosing to read history at Oxford and going on to become an archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist, author, poet, photographer, and legendary mountaineer.
-
-
Shattering The Glass Ceiling in Britain
- By Nostromo on 08-05-18
By: Georgina Howell
-
Lawrence in Arabia
- War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East
- By: Scott Anderson
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 23 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A thrilling and revelatory narrative of one of the most epic and consequential periods in 20th century history - the Arab Revolt and the secret “great game” to control the Middle East. Lawrence in Arabia definitively overturns received wisdom on how the modern Middle East was formed. Sweeping in its action, keen in its portraiture, acid in its condemnation of the destruction wrought by European colonial plots, this is a book that brilliantly captures the way in which the folly of the past creates the anguish of the present.
-
-
A Comprehensive, Compelling Biography
- By Lester Gesteland on 10-05-20
By: Scott Anderson
-
Seven Pillars of Wisdom
- By: T. E. Lawrence
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 25 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Although T. E. Lawrence, commonly known as "Lawrence of Arabia’, died in 1935, the story of his life has captured the imagination of succeeding generations. Seven Pillars of Wisdom is a monumental work in which he chronicles his role in leading the Arab Revolt against the Turks during the First World War. A reluctant leader, and wracked by guilt at the duplicity of the British, Lawrence nevertheless threw himself into his role, suffering the blistering desert conditions and masterminding military campaigns which culminated in the triumphant march of the Arabs into Damascus.
-
-
One of the greatest stories ever told.
- By Stevie on 01-11-13
By: T. E. Lawrence
-
The Richest Woman in America
- Hetty Green in the Gilded Age
- By: Janet Wallach
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No woman in the Gilded Age made as much money as Hetty Green. At the time of her death in 1916, she was worth at least 100 million dollars, equal to more than 2 billion dollars today. A strong believer in women being financially independent, she offered valuable lessons for the present times. Abandoned at birth by her neurotic mother, scorned by her misogynist father, Hetty set out as a child to prove her value. Following the simple rules of her wealthy Quaker father, she successfully invested her money and along the way proved to herself that she was wealthy and therefore worthy.
-
-
Horrible Narrator
- By Christina M. Kruse on 06-10-15
By: Janet Wallach
-
The Covenant of Water
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Abraham Verghese
- Length: 31 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time.
-
-
Story Telling At Its Best
- By Regina on 05-06-23
By: Abraham Verghese
-
Flirting with Danger
- The Mysterious Life of Marguerite Harrison, Socialite Spy
- By: Janet Wallach
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born a privileged child of America’s Gilded Age, Marguerite Harrison rebelled against her mother’s ambitions, married the man she loved, was widowed at thirty-seven, and set off on a life of adventure. Hired as a society reporter, when America entered World War I she applied to Military Intelligence to work as a spy. Over a decade, Harrison’s mysterious adventures took her to Europe, Baghdad, and the Far East, as a socialite, secret agent, and documentary filmmaker. Janet Wallach captures Harrison’s daring and glamour in this stranger-than-fiction history of a woman drawn to the impossible.
-
-
The rich descriptions of the characters brought them to life.
- By askmurphy on 07-10-24
By: Janet Wallach
-
Gertrude Bell
- Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations
- By: Georgina Howell
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
She has been called the female Lawrence of Arabia, which, while not inaccurate, fails to give Gertrude Bell her due. She was at one time the most powerful woman in the British Empire: a nation builder, the driving force behind the creation of modern-day Iraq. Born in 1868 into a world of privilege, Bell turned her back on Victorian society, choosing to read history at Oxford and going on to become an archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist, author, poet, photographer, and legendary mountaineer.
-
-
Shattering The Glass Ceiling in Britain
- By Nostromo on 08-05-18
By: Georgina Howell
-
Lawrence in Arabia
- War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East
- By: Scott Anderson
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 23 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A thrilling and revelatory narrative of one of the most epic and consequential periods in 20th century history - the Arab Revolt and the secret “great game” to control the Middle East. Lawrence in Arabia definitively overturns received wisdom on how the modern Middle East was formed. Sweeping in its action, keen in its portraiture, acid in its condemnation of the destruction wrought by European colonial plots, this is a book that brilliantly captures the way in which the folly of the past creates the anguish of the present.
-
-
A Comprehensive, Compelling Biography
- By Lester Gesteland on 10-05-20
By: Scott Anderson
-
Seven Pillars of Wisdom
- By: T. E. Lawrence
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 25 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Although T. E. Lawrence, commonly known as "Lawrence of Arabia’, died in 1935, the story of his life has captured the imagination of succeeding generations. Seven Pillars of Wisdom is a monumental work in which he chronicles his role in leading the Arab Revolt against the Turks during the First World War. A reluctant leader, and wracked by guilt at the duplicity of the British, Lawrence nevertheless threw himself into his role, suffering the blistering desert conditions and masterminding military campaigns which culminated in the triumphant march of the Arabs into Damascus.
-
-
One of the greatest stories ever told.
- By Stevie on 01-11-13
By: T. E. Lawrence
-
The Richest Woman in America
- Hetty Green in the Gilded Age
- By: Janet Wallach
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No woman in the Gilded Age made as much money as Hetty Green. At the time of her death in 1916, she was worth at least 100 million dollars, equal to more than 2 billion dollars today. A strong believer in women being financially independent, she offered valuable lessons for the present times. Abandoned at birth by her neurotic mother, scorned by her misogynist father, Hetty set out as a child to prove her value. Following the simple rules of her wealthy Quaker father, she successfully invested her money and along the way proved to herself that she was wealthy and therefore worthy.
-
-
Horrible Narrator
- By Christina M. Kruse on 06-10-15
By: Janet Wallach
-
The Covenant of Water
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Abraham Verghese
- Length: 31 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time.
-
-
Story Telling At Its Best
- By Regina on 05-06-23
By: Abraham Verghese
-
Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia
- By: Michael Korda
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Michael Korda's Hero is the story of an epic life on a grand scale: a revealing, in-depth, and gripping biography of the extraordinary, mysterious, and dynamic Englishman whose daring exploits and romantic profile, including his blond, sun-burnished good looks and flowing white robes, made him an object of intense fascination, still famous the world over as "Lawrence of Arabia".
-
-
Excellent book and narration
- By Ron L. Caldwell on 12-11-10
By: Michael Korda
-
Lessons in Chemistry
- A Novel
- By: Bonnie Garmus
- Narrated by: Miranda Raison, Bonnie Garmus, Pandora Sykes
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
-
-
Making my 3 adult daughters read this
- By Teresa H. on 04-07-22
By: Bonnie Garmus
-
A Woman in Arabia
- The Writings of the Queen of the Desert
- By: Gertrude Bell, Georgina Howell - introduction, Georgina Howell - editor
- Narrated by: Sian Thomas, Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gertrude Bell was leaning in 100 years before Sheryl Sandberg. One of the great woman adventurers of the 20th century, she turned her back on Victorian society to study at Oxford and travel the world and became the chief architect of British policy in the Middle East after World War I. Mountaineer, archaeologist, Arabist, writer, poet, linguist, and spy, she dedicated her life to championing the Arab cause and was instrumental in drawing the borders that define today's Middle East.
-
-
Raw historiography of a spectacular heroine
- By Josef on 01-07-16
By: Gertrude Bell, and others
-
Horse
- A Novel
- By: Geraldine Brooks
- Narrated by: James Fouhey, Lisa Flanagan, Graham Halstead, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamor of any racetrack.
-
-
Love Geraldine Brooks
- By Regina on 06-25-22
By: Geraldine Brooks
-
River of the Gods
- Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
- By: Candice Millard
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe—and extend their colonial empires.
-
-
Good book by Millard, narrator ruined it
- By Tally D Lykins on 05-25-22
By: Candice Millard
-
Empress of the Nile
- The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt's Ancient Temples from Destruction
- By: Lynne Olson
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1960s, the world’s attention was focused on a nail-biting race against time: the international campaign to save a dozen ancient Egyptian temples from drowning in the floodwaters of the gigantic new Aswan High Dam. But the coverage of this unprecedented rescue effort completely overlooked the daring French archaeologist who made it all happen. Without the intervention of Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, the temples—including the Temple of Dendur, now at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art—would currently be at the bottom of a vast reservoir.
-
-
Interesting but annoying
- By evan k pinto on 03-27-24
By: Lynne Olson
-
Nine Parts of Desire
- The Hidden World of Islamic Women
- By: Geraldine Brooks
- Narrated by: Geraldine Brooks
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women is the story of Brooks’ intrepid journey toward an understanding of the women behind the veils, and of the often contradictory political, religious, and cultural forces that shape their lives. In fundamentalist Iran, Brooks finagles an invitation to tea with the ayatollah’s widow—and discovers that Mrs. Khomeini dyes her hair.
-
-
Auto-ethnography and good research
- By Verna on 09-26-13
By: Geraldine Brooks
-
Chicago
- A Novel
- By: Brian Doyle
- Narrated by: Wayne Mitchell
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the last day of summer, a young college grad moves to Chicago and rents a small apartment on the north side of the city, by the lake. This is the story of the five seasons he lives there. A love letter to Chicago, the Great American City, and a wry account of a young man's coming-of-age during the one summer in White Sox history when they had the best outfield in baseball, Chicago is a novel that will plunge you into a city you will never forget and may well wish to visit for the rest of your days.
-
-
A fine, entertaining book, very well read.
- By Richard Delman on 09-28-19
By: Brian Doyle
-
The Second World War: Milestones to Disaster
- By: Winston Churchill
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Churchill's history of the Second World War is, and will remain, the definitive work. Lucid, dramatic, remarkable for its breadth and sweep and for its sense of personal involvement, it is universally acknowledged as a magnificent reconstruction.
-
-
Brilliant! Only Churchill could have done this.
- By John M on 10-30-08
-
Einstein
- His Life and Universe
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 21 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: You thought he was a stodgy scientist with funny hair, but Isaacson and Hermann reveal an eloquent, intense, and selfless human being who not only shaped science with his theories, but politics and world events in the 20th century as well. Based on the newly released personal letters of Albert Einstein, Walter Isaacson explores how an imaginative, impertinent patent clerk became the mind reader of the creator of the cosmos.
-
-
Surprise: Two books in one!
- By Henrik on 04-20-07
By: Walter Isaacson
-
Matriarch
- Queen Mary and the House of Windsor
- By: Anne Edwards
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The life of Princess May of Teck is one of the great Cinderella stories in history. From a family of impoverished nobility, she was chosen by Queen Victoria as the bride for her eldest grandson, the scandalous Duke of Clarence, heir to the throne, who died mysteriously before their marriage. Despite this setback, she became queen, mother of two kings, grandmother of the current queen, and a lasting symbol of the majesty of the British throne.
-
-
Wow! Did not want this to end!
- By Susan Nall Sheehan on 07-16-17
By: Anne Edwards
-
Indian Summer
- The Secret History of the End of an Empire
- By: Alex von Tunzelmann
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the British Empire withdrew from India, igniting the exhilaration and turmoil of a newly free society. In this vivid, atmospheric popular history, Alex von Tunzelmann chronicles these times through the most prominent figures.
-
-
Such an interesting piece of History made easy
- By Eric on 01-23-12
Gertrude Bell
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great read
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Less a history and more an inspirational story
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The character of Gertrude Bell
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
'Excellent
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
what is personhood
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A woman ahead of time
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What did you love best about Desert Queen?
Details of the Arab world in the early 20th century and the extraordinary personality of Gertrude BellWhat other book might you compare Desert Queen to and why?
One cannot compare apples and oranges. Each biography is therefore different because of the different personalties and situarionsWhat do you think the narrator could have done better?
The narrator did an excellent job , especially with all the arab namesWas this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
That would have been impossible and there was so much information one had to pause to digest each bitAny additional comments?
The author took too long to describe Bell's character and personalikty and I preferred the last third with all the facts and detailsA very interesting book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
She struggles mightily to have a career when this was not allowed for women. Her solo traveling in the desert and mountain climbing were part of her early life.
Desert travel and politics
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I greatly appreciated reading about a historical female who played an influential role in a male dominated world. Her unfailing belief in her purpose is truly inspirational.
AMAZING!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.