{"title":"Books by Freya Stark","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781529379778","title":"The Valleys of the Assassins","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eINTRODUCED BY MONISHA RAJESH, award-winning author of \u003ci\u003eAround the World in 80 Trains\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'If I were asked to enumerate the pleasures of travel, this would be one of the greatest among them - that so often and so unexpectedly you meet the best in human nature.'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Growing up in near-poverty and denied a formal education, Freya Stark had nurtured a fascination for the Middle East since reading \u003ci\u003eArabian Nights\u003c\/i\u003e as a child. But it wasn't until she was in her thirties that she was able to leave Europe. Boarding a cargo ship to Beirut in 1927, she went on to became one of her generation's most intrepid explorers - her adventures would take her to remote areas in Turkey, the Middle East and Asia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003ci\u003eThe Valleys of the Assassins \u003c\/i\u003echronicles Stark's treks into the wilderness of western Iran on the hunt for treasure and in an attempt to locate the long-fabled Assassins in Alumut, an ancient Persian sect. Entering Luristan on a mule, draped in native clothing, Freya bluffs her way past border guards and sets off into uncharted territory; places where few Europeans, and no European women, had ventured.\u003cbr\u003e  Stark was a woman of indefatigable energy, who often travelled with only a single guide and on a shoestring budget, and who was undeterred by discomfort and danger. Hailed as a classic upon its first publication in 1934, \u003ci\u003eThe Valleys of the Assassins\u003c\/i\u003e is an absorbing account of people and place. Full of wit and rich in detail - and also in humanity - her writing brings to vivid life the stories of the ancient kingdoms of the Middle East.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56303334064501,"sku":"9781529379778","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781529379778_7c9de9a1-edb9-4584-a36f-fadfeb3d27b8.jpg?v=1786023426"},{"product_id":"9781838601812","title":"Perseus in the Wind","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'She has written the best travel books of her generation and her name will survive as an artist in prose.' - \u003ci\u003eThe Observer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWritten just after the Second World War, \u003ci\u003ePerseus in the Wind\u003c\/i\u003e (named after the constellation) is perhaps the most personal, and haunting, of all Freya Stark's writings. She muses on the seasons, the effect light has on a landscape at a particular time of day, the smell of the earth after rain, Muslim saints, Indian temples, war and old age. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEach chapter is devoted to a particular theme: happiness (simple pleasures, like her father's passion for the view from his cabin in Canada); education (to be able to command happiness, recognise beauty, value death, increase enjoyment); beauty (incongruous, flighty and elusive - a description of the stars, the burst of flowers in a park); death (a childhood awareness of the finality of time, the meaningfulness of the end); memory (the jewelled quality of literature, pleasure, love, an echo or a scent when aged by the passage of time). \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor those who have loved her travel writing, \u003ci\u003ePerseus in the Wind\u003c\/i\u003e illuminates the motivations behind Freya Stark's journeys and the woman behind the traveller.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56307754926453,"sku":"9781838601812","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781838601812_e14a7b78-0baf-4d2f-85da-d547f2d2d068.jpg?v=1786027961"},{"product_id":"9781848853126","title":"The Lycian Shore","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e'There are not so many places left where magic reigns without interruption and of all those I know, the coast of Lycia was the most magical.'\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLycia, on the southwestern coast of Turkey, is an ancient land steeped in mystery, myth and legend. Home to the fiery chimera and to the great heroes Sarpedon and Penderus; heartland of worship for the goddess Leto and her children Apollo and Artemis; old ally of Troy, lure to conquering Cyrus and Alexander and to centuries of travellers, artists and writers - Lycia, part of the 'Turquoise Coast' now attracts more tourists to her glimmering shores than any other part of Turkey.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the early 1950s, following the trail of ancient Persian and Greek traders, Freya Stark set out by boat to explore the Lycian coast. She was guided by the traces of Lycia's rich history and cultural heritage. For all those who now follow in her wake, there can be no better, more evocative or knowledgeable guide to this, Turkey's most enchanting coast.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56308365656437,"sku":"9781848853126","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781848853126_53313ee5-f9e9-4d59-b4c8-74317157c6a9.jpg?v=1786029374"},{"product_id":"a-winter-in-arabia","title":"A Winter in Arabia","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom within this beautifully crafted and deeply knowledgeable narrative emerges a rare and exquisitely rendered portrait of the customs and cultures of the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFreya Stark is most famous for her travels in Arabia at a time when very few men, let alone women, had fully explored its vast hinterlands. In 1934, she made her first journey to the Hadhramaut in what is now Yemen - the first woman to do so alone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEven though that journey ended in disappointment, sickness and a forced rescue, Stark, undeterred, returned to Yemen two years later. Starting in Mukalla and skirting the fringes of the legendary and unexplored Empty Quarter, she spent the winter searching for Shabwa - ancient capital of the Hadhramaut and a holy grail for generations of explorers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Winter in Arabia\u003c\/i\u003e is one of the most important pieces of literature on the region and a book that placed Freya Stark in the pantheon of great writers and explorers of the Arab world. To listen to her voice is to hear the rich echoes of a land whose 'nakedness is clothed in shreds of departed splendour'.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57481718071669,"sku":"9780755633821","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780755633821.jpg?v=1786090042"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-freya-stark.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}