Quotes

• "'It may be impossible, but I don't think it is. They say it is, but we know that the experts may be mistaken.'"
• "The English were too predictable; she could tell in advance what a politician might do or what her dinner partner might say. The one group she met that was different was the Arabs; they excited her. They stimulated her imagination; they were romantic, exotic, mysterious, unplumbed."

Thoughts and Discoveries

• As accepting as she was, Gertrude was certainly an imperialist. She definitely believed the English were the superior race.
• Gertrude feels like a person in a land so far from home. I feel like she felt such constraints because of the English society's restrictions on women, which didn't apply to her in a culture that was not her own to adhere to. It seems strange this wouldn't inspire her to support the suffrage movement in any way.
• Beirut is very westernized compared to its neighbors in the Levant.
• Gertrude must have been extremely enigmatic--whatever followers she attained remained loyal to her, and she inspired camaraderie in the fiercest of strangers.
• Even the most independent of women at the time were highly influenced by the strict social stratification of Great Britain in the Victorian era. Everyone is who they are based on when and where they are.

Inspirations

• Drink arabic coffee. It sounds like the best thing in the world, rich and dark. I don't like coffee at all, but now I feel as though I'm missing out.
• Mountain climbing in a snowstorm.
• Visit a place that sparks my interest to write a book about it.
• Keep an extensive journal of everything.
• Remember details.
• Take pictures.