With such tantalizing chapters as 'In Defence of Smuggling' and 'Lunch with Homer,' this is a witty, eye-opening tapestry of Freya Stark's writings on travel and a life spent as one of the 20th century's most formidable adventurers. In chronological order, spanning an extraordinary 50 years from 1919 to 1967, Stark muses on the nature of travel and of being a woman - both writer and explorer - in what was then predominantly a male world.