It Seems I Am Mistaken

in thinking that Dame Freya Stark was wealthy and protected when she
started travelling in the Middle East. All I do know is that I liked her quote
about never writing for money and that she would bake bread a sell it to earn her
living rather than compromise by writing as a hack.

It's years since I read about her and Mary Kingsley, who did escape the stuffy
world where education for women was very rare and who went to West Africa to scare
crocodiles.

These women were, in fact, so scary, they have ensured I will probably never set foot
in either Africa or the Middle East. And reading their wonderful books has saved me the discomfort of such travel.