A Rage To Live: A Biography of Richard and Isabel Burton

Description

The 19th-century explorer Richard Burton was a blend of erudite scholar and daring adventurer. Fluent in 29 languages, he found it easy to pass himself off as a native, thereby gaining unique insight into societies otherwise closed to Western scrutiny. He followed service as an intelligence officer in India with a daring penetration of the sacred Islamic cities of Mecca and Medina disguised as a pilgrim. He was the first European to enter the forbidden African city of Harar, and discovered Lake Tanganyika in his search for the source of the Nile. His fascination with, and research into, intimate ethnic customs, which would eventually culminate in his "Kama Sutra", earned him a racy reputation in that age of sexual repression. Isabel Arundell's aristocratic mother objected to her daughter's marriage to this notorious figure, but Isabel was a spirited, independent-minded woman, and was also passionately in love with Burton. This book tells the story of their successful marriage.

A former accountant and Company Director Mary Lovell now lists her chief interests as horses, sailing, aviation and book collecting. She enjoys overseas travel and is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. She is the author of four previous biographies including the international bestseller STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING: The Biography of Beryl Markham.

'Scholarly ... Fabulous ... The biography shines its light on that remorselessly interesting period of British history, the Victorian era' TELEGRPAH 'A monumentual biography' THE TIMES 'Gripping' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'A RAGE TO LIVE is a splendid and very enjoyable book. Mary S Lovell does her hero and heroine proud' LITERARY REVIEW 'A readable, lovingly researched exploration of the parallel lives of this controversial couple.' THE SPECTATOR 'No detail of the Burton's story is neglected, no date ignored, no symptom of sickness undiagnosed.' INDEPENDENT 'Lovell makes you want to be him. To reduce grown men to the status of wide-eyed schoolboys is a magnificent achievement.' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY