Gertrude Bell is rightly known as 'The Queen of the Desert' and a new Hollywood film based on her life, featuring Nicole Kidman, Damian Lewis and Robert Pattinson is due for release in 2015. A formidable British diplomat, explorer and archaeologist, she travelled extensively through the Middle East in the early twentieth century and helped draw the boundaries of the country that became Iraq. With extracts from two of Bell's most compelling works of travel writing, this is a unique collection.