Overview
The definitive biography of the celebrated traveller and explorer Mary Kingsley began her life as a typically conventional Victorian woman. She would end up travelling to some of the most inhospitable regions of Africa to become one of the most feted travellers of the day. At the age of 31 she travelled to West Africa - her first trip to the continent she had always dreamed of visiting. She sailed on a cargo ship along the coast from Sierra Leone to Angola and then travelled inland from Guinea to Nigeria, studying African customs and beliefs. On her second journey, she ventured into remote parts of Gabon and the French Congo - the first European to do so. She encountered cannibals and crocodiles, studied the religious customs of the mysterious Fang tribe, climbed Mount Cameroon and explored the Ogowe River, trading cloth for ivory and rubber to fund her trip. She returned only once to Africa, during the Boer War, when she worked as a nurse and journalist. Tragically, she died of typhoid in 1900, only 38 years old.
Full Product Details
Author: Katherine Frank
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint: Barbara Ward & Associates
Dimensions:
Width: 12.60cm
, Height: 2.80cm
, Length: 19.80cm
Weight: 0.417kg
ISBN: 9781845110208
ISBN 10: 184511020
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 25 November 2005
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Out of Print
Availability: In Print
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.
Reviews
Katherine Frank is the ideal biographer for this challenging subject... the story of a unique woman that has to be read, absorbed, devoured, to be believed. - Elizabeth Longford 'This absorbing biography of Mary Kingsley provides a vivid portrait of one of the most intrepid female explorers of the Victorian age.' -Sunday Telegraph 'Frank grasps the wit and insight of Kingsley's prose, and allows her to speak with great sympathy in this excellent, highly readable biography of a fascinating woman' -- Jerry Brotton, BBC History, April 2006 BRITAIN-NIGERIA ASSOCIATION 'A brilliant biography of Mary Kingsley, one of that remarkable cohort of brave Victorian lady travellers around the world.'
"""Katherine Frank is the ideal biographer for this challenging subject... the story of a unique woman that has to be read, absorbed, devoured, to be believed. - Elizabeth Longford"" 'This absorbing biography of Mary Kingsley provides a vivid portrait of one of the most intrepid female explorers of the Victorian age.' -Sunday Telegraph 'Frank grasps the wit and insight of Kingsley's prose, and allows her to speak with great sympathy in this excellent, highly readable biography of a fascinating woman' -- Jerry Brotton, BBC History, April 2006 BRITAIN-NIGERIA ASSOCIATION 'A brilliant biography of Mary Kingsley, one of that remarkable cohort of brave Victorian lady travellers around the world.'"
Author Information
Katherine Frank is a lecturer, acclaimed writer and biographer. Her most recent book is Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi. She has also written biographies of Emily Bronte and Lucie Duff Gordon. She is currently writing a biography of Daniel Defoe.
