Born in Paris in 1893, the wandering life of Freya Stark's childhood left her 'precocious and pretty tough'. Self-disciplined, courageous yet flamboyant and unorthodox, she became a great explorer, a travel writer, geographer, historian and archaeologist. Freya Stark remained fearlessly independent [...]

Yemen is justly famed as one of the world's most dramatically beautiful countries. Seen in the Yemen brings the people, architecture and landscapes of this ancient culture alive to the reader through the medium of the author's remarkable black-and-white photographs, taken in the 1970s, and here repr[...]

Written just after the Second World War, Perseus in the Wind (named after the constellation) is perhaps the most personal, and haunting, of all Freya Stark's writings. She muses on the seasons, the effect light has on a landscape at a particular time of day, the smell of the earth after rain, Muslim[...]

The 12th century minaret of Djam is one of Afghanistan's most celebrated treasures, a magnificent symbol of the powerful Ghorid Empire that once stretched from Iran to India. The second tallest brick minaret in the world, Djam lies in the heart of central Afghanistan's wild Ghor Province. Surrounded[...]