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Drury House
34-43 Russell Street
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Tel: 020 7344 1000
Fax: 020 7836 9543
Dr Lorna Gibb
Agent: James Gill

Lorna Gibb grew up in Bellshill, Scotland and worked as a professional dancer in Italy before studying at London University. She took her PhD at the University of Edinburgh, lectured at Helsinki and Sheffield University, and was a guest lecturer at the University of Salzburg. She lives in London with her husband.

Her first book, LADY HESTER: QUEEN OF THE EAST, was published by Faber in 2005.

LADY HESTER: QUEEN OF THE EAST Faber paperback published on 4 May 2006

FABER (5 May 05)

Born into the age of revolution, Lady Hester Stanhope had a radical spirit. Following the death of her uncle the Prime Minister William Pitt in 1806, she chose the excitement of travel and adventure over the life of a spinster in polite London society. And she never looked back.

Surviving a terrible shipwreck and the scorn of Lord Byron ('that dangerous thing -- a female wit'), Lady Hester adopted male Arabic dress, became the Queen of the Bedouin and was the first European woman ever to enter Palmyra. Recovering from the heartbreak of a passionate love affair, she became a political force in Lebanon. In defiance of despotic war lords she offered sanctuary to an oppressed minority, creating a fortress which became a focus of both gossip and awe.

Told with all the verve of its subject's life, based on much new source material and extensive travel in Hester's footsteps, LADY HESTER traces this extraordinary life from Downing Street to an isolated monastery in the hills of Lebanon -- a stunning evocation of a unique and pioneering figure.

ISBN: 0 571 21753 2

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