Freya Stark

Author profile

born

in Paris, France

January 31, 1893

died

May 09, 1993

gender

female

website

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freya_Stark

genre

Travel

About this author

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Freya Stark was born in Paris, where her parents were studying art. Her mother, Flora, was an Italian of Polish/German descent; her father, Robert, an English painter from Devon.

In her lifetime she was famous for her experiences in the Middle East, her writing and her cartography. Freya Stark was not only one of the first Western women to travel through the Arabian deserts (Hadhramaut), she often travelled solo into areas where few Europeans, let alone women, had ever been.

She spent much of her childhood in North Italy, helped by the fact that Pen Browning, a friend of her father, had bought three houses in Asolo. She also had a grandmother in Genoa. For her 9th birthday she received a copy of the One Thousand and One Nights, and became fas...more Freya Stark was born in Paris, where her parents were studying art. Her mother, Flora, was an Italian of Polish/German descent; her father, Robert, an English painter from Devon.

In her lifetime she was famous for her experiences in the Middle East, her writing and her cartography. Freya Stark was not only one of the first Western women to travel through the Arabian deserts (Hadhramaut), she often travelled solo into areas where few Europeans, let alone women, had ever been.

She spent much of her childhood in North Italy, helped by the fact that Pen Browning, a friend of her father, had bought three houses in Asolo. She also had a grandmother in Genoa. For her 9th birthday she received a copy of the One Thousand and One Nights, and became fascinated with the Orient. She was often ill while young, and confined to the house, so found an outlet in reading. She delighted in reading French, in particular Dumas, and taught herself Latin. When she was 13 she had an accident in a factory in Italy, when her hair got caught in a machine, and she had to spend four months getting skin grafts in hospital, which left her face slightly disfigured.

She later learned Arabic and Persian, studied history in London and during World War I worked as a nurse in Italy, where her mother had remained and taken a share in a business. Her sister, Vera, married the co-owner.

In November 1927 she visited Asolo for the first time in years, and later that month boarded a ship for Beirut, where her travels in the East began. She based herself first at the home of James Elroy Flecker in Lebanon and then in Baghdad, where she met the British high commissioner.

By 1931 she had completed three dangerous treks into the wilderness of western Iran, in parts of which no Westerner had ever been before, and had located the long-fabled Valleys of the Assassins (hashish-eaters). During the 1930s she penetrated the hinterland of southern Arabia, where only a handful of Western explorers had previously ventured and then never as far or as widely as she went.

During World War II, she joined the British Ministry of Information and contributed to the creation of a propaganda network aimed at persuading Arabs to support the Allies or at least remain neutral. She wrote more than two dozen books based on her travels, almost all of which were published by John Murray in London, with whom she had a successful and long-standing working relationship.(less)

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Freya Stark's Books

Average rating: 3.84 · 536 ratings · 92 reviews · 40 distinct works · Similar authors

	The Valleys of the Assassins: and Other Persian Travels 3.83 of 5 stars 3.83 avg rating — 253 ratings — published 1934 — 10 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Winter in Arabia 3.71 of 5 stars 3.71 avg rating — 73 ratings — published 1940 — 11 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Southern Gates of Arabia: A Journey in the Hadhramaut by Freya Stark, Jane Fletcher Geniesse (Introduction) 4.3 of 5 stars 4.30 avg rating — 54 ratings — published 1936 — 10 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Baghdad Sketches by Freya Stark, Barbara Kreiger (Introduction) 3.8 of 5 stars 3.80 avg rating — 51 ratings — published 1932 — 5 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ionia: A Quest 3.62 of 5 stars 3.62 avg rating — 16 ratings — published 1954 — 4 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Journey's Echo: Selections from Freya Stark 4.1 of 5 stars 4.10 avg rating — 10 ratings — published 1978	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Minaret of Djam: An Excursion in Afghanistan 3.26 of 5 stars 3.26 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 1971 — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Perseus in the Wind 3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 1948 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Beyond Euphrates: Autobiography 1928-33 4.17 of 5 stars 4.17 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 1984 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Riding to the Tigris 3.5 of 5 stars 3.50 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 1959	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Freya Stark…

Quotes by Freya Stark

“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the most pleasant sensations in the world. You are surrounded by adventure.”
― Freya Stark

18 people liked it

“One life is an absurdly small allowance.”
― Freya Stark

tags: adventuresome-women

14 people liked it

“There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.”
― Freya Stark

12 people liked it

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Freya Stark

Author profile

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Quotes by Freya Stark

Topics Mentioning This Author

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Freya Stark's Books