Gertrude Bell Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations

She has been called the female Lawrence of Arabia, which, while not inaccurate, fails to give Gertrude Bell her due. At one time she was the most powerful woman in the British Empire, a nation builder, the driving force behind the creation of Iraq. Born in 1868 into a world of privilege, she turned her back on debutante balls and instead chose to read history at Oxford, where she took a First in only two years. Bell would go on to become an archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist, author, poet, photographer, and legendary mountaineer (she took off her skirt and climbed the Alps in her underclothes).

Georgina Howell has worked in magazine journalism since the age of seventeen. She has written for Vanity Fair and American Vogue, and has worked at The Observer, British Vogue, The Tatler, and The Sunday Times. She lives in London and Brittany.