The Circe of the deserts

"The Circe of the Deserts" by Paule Henry-Bordeaux is an early 20th-century biography about the extraordinary Lady Hester Stanhope, a woman from the 1800s with a thirst for adventure and a multifaceted persona. It tells the story of Lady Hester's departure from England and her adventurous travels around the Mediterranean and the Middle East. She leaves her old life and sets sail on the "Jason" to find something greater in the world. The book shares memories of her powerful uncle, William Pitt, and her dissatisfaction with the restrictions of society, pushing her to explore and find purpose in a male-dominated world. As she travels east, her journey becomes a deep dive into her own ambition, her search for identity, and trying to break free from what society expects of her.