Rather than a compendium of women's travels, this is about what drove women to escape the safe, stodgy, conformist comfort of their Victorian homes to go tramping through rainforests and riding camels through the desert. Considered spinsters at home, abroad they travelled differently from men and were welcomed because they were women. They achieved considerable status that was denied them, even after they returned home. Lots of excerpts from diaries and letters enliven this "literary exploration".

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