Passage to Egypt - Hardcover

Katherine Frank; Lucie Austin Duff-Gordon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395546885 ISBN 13: 9780395546888

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (Trade), 1994

Synopsis

In 1862 Lucie Duff Gordon reluctantly bid farewell to her life at the center of London society and sailed to Egypt, where she fell in love with the land and the culture. One hundred and twenty-six years later, Katherine Frank boarded a flight for Cairo in search of the woman whose Letters from Egypt enchanted British readers. A Passage to Egypt recounts the life of an extraordinary Victorian woman, and her biographer's pursuit of her.
A childhood companion of the young John Stuart Mill and the elderly Jeremy Bentham, a gifted scholar and translator, Lucie married the glamorous Alexander Duff Gordon at age eighteen and soon became the intimate friend of London's literary lights, including Dickens, Thackeray, and Tennyson. But tuberculosis abruptly changed her life. Traveling to Egypt for its dry climate, Lucie was exiled from everything she held dear. Yet what she found there was not loss but unimagined gain, not recovery but a species of rebirth. Her Letters from Egypt are a unique testimony to the poetry, sensuality, and kindness of the land that became her spiritual home.
Like her critically acclaimed biography of Mary Kingsley, Katherine Frank's captivating life of Lucie Duff Gordon details the evolution of an intrepid nineteenth-century heroine.

About this title

Review:

"Katherine Frank orchestrates her account with depth and subtlety... this biography stands as a masterpiece in its own right."--Annette Kobak, "The New York Times Book Review" "I found the various strands in A Passage to Egypt woven together skilfully and poignantly... Katherine Frank has brought Lucie Duff Gordon brilliantly back to life."--Antonia Fraser, "Los Angeles Times"""
"Katherine Frank's biography is worthy of her subject... well written, generous, perceptive and unsentimental."--Anthony Beevor, "Daily Telegraph"""
"Lucie Duff Gordon's life is a rich field for a biographer, and Katherine Frank does her justice... what stays in the mind is a portrait of an exceptional woman, funny, wry, occasionally flamboyant, always generous-spirited, and firmly rooted in the social history of her day."--Caroline Moorehead, "Times Literary Supplement""
""Frank's composed prose is always a pleasure, her empathy with her subject deep and moving."--Margaret Riches, "Guardian
"
"Not only does Frank have an imagination sympathetic enough to see into the heart of her subject: she also has a travel-writer's appreciation of how to deploy detail."--Lucasta Miller, " Independent"
"Katherine Frank provides a biography that illuminates her heroine's childhood and adolescence, as well as... the better-known stories Duff Gordon wove of her unconventional life... a tale of destiny and adventure."--Michele Roberts, "Sunday Times
"
"This is a biography that rests on the virtues of immaculate scholarship and fluent prose."--Kathryn Hughes, "New Statesman & Society"
"Frank honours Lucie Duff Gordon's intellectual vigour and makes a colourful and emotionally affecting story of her life."--Lucy Hughes-Hallett, "Literary Review"
"Hats should be raised to Katherine Frank's exemplary display of what an inventive imagination can make of diligent research."--Digby Durrant, "Oldie"
"Thoroughly documented, this readable depiction of a fascinating woman is a worthwhile addition to general collections."--"Library Journal
"
"The stereotypical image of Victorian women is belied by works such as this biography of Lucie Duff Gordon."--"Booklist
"
..".absorbing account... A memorable story that will challenge images of the 19th century as a sepia-toned world inhabited by static women."--"Kirkus Reviews"
"This excellent biography of this remarkable woman is all that one could wish for."--Penelope Lively

*Katherine Frank orchestrates her account with depth and subtlety... this biography stands as a masterpiece in its own right.*--Annette Kobak, The New York Times Book Review *I found the various strands in A Passage to Egypt woven together skilfully and poignantly... Katherine Frank has brought Lucie Duff Gordon brilliantly back to life.*--Antonia Fraser, Los Angeles Times
*Katherine Frank's biography is worthy of her subject... well written, generous, perceptive and unsentimental.*--Anthony Beevor, Daily Telegraph
*Lucie Duff Gordon's life is a rich field for a biographer, and Katherine Frank does her justice... what stays in the mind is a portrait of an exceptional woman, funny, wry, occasionally flamboyant, always generous-spirited, and firmly rooted in the social history of her day.*--Caroline Moorehead, Times Literary Supplement
*Frank's composed prose is always a pleasure, her empathy with her subject deep and moving.*--Margaret Riches, Guardian

*Not only does Frank have an imagination sympathetic enough to see into the heart of her subject: she also has a travel-writer's appreciation of how to deploy detail.*--Lucasta Miller, Independent

*Katherine Frank provides a biography that illuminates her heroine's childhood and adolescence, as well as... the better-known stories Duff Gordon wove of her unconventional life... a tale of destiny and adventure.*--Michele Roberts, Sunday Times

*This is a biography that rests on the virtues of immaculate scholarship and fluent prose.*--Kathryn Hughes, New Statesman & Society

*Frank honours Lucie Duff Gordon's intellectual vigour and makes a colourful and emotionally affecting story of her life.*--Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Literary Review

*Hats should be raised to Katherine Frank's exemplary display of what an inventive imagination can make of diligent research.*--Digby Durrant, Oldie

*Thoroughly documented, this readable depiction of a fascinating woman is a worthwhile addition to general collections.*--Library Journal

*The stereotypical image of Victorian women is belied by works such as this biography of Lucie Duff Gordon.*--Booklist

*...absorbing account... A memorable story that will challenge images of the 19th century as a sepia-toned world inhabited by static women.*--Kirkus Reviews
*This excellent biography of this remarkable woman is all that one could wish for.*--Penelope Lively

About the Author:

Katherine Frank is a lecturer and acclaimed writer and biographer. She was a university lecturer for fifteen years before becoming a full-time writer, and she still lectures on a wide range of historical, political and biographical topics. She is the author of A Voyager Out (Tauris Parke Paperbacks), the highly acclaimed Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi, as well as a biography of Emily Bronte. She is currently writing a biography of Daniel Defoe.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (Trade)
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0395546885
• ISBN 13: 9780395546888
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 398