Gertrude Bell, the Uncrowned Queen

«You don't know her, yet she held the world in her hands.”warns Olivier Guez, 2017 Renaudot Prize with The Disappearance of Josef Mengelewhich returns to the novel after three steps aside on dictators, Europe and football. This unknown woman who held the world in her hands was Gertrude Bell (1868-1926), born in Victorian England and died in Baghdad at the age of 57. Coming from a wealthy family and graduating from the best schools, she had indeed become the most influential woman in the British Empire in the early 1920s.

As is often the case, this type of character has a multifaceted profile: she was an archaeologist, explorer, writer, fine analyst of the political situation in the Middle East and the Arab world thanks to her mastery of languages, notably Persian and Arabic. . And she was a spy in the service of the Crown. Let us give thanks to Olivier Guez for having unearthed from the depths of history this extraordinary woman, who was Lawrence's close friend…