A captivating authorised biography of the legendary writer Jan Morris.
_She was the twentieth century. Who wouldn't want to write her biography?_
When Jan Morris joined the 1953 Everest expedition and was first to get news of the ascent back to London, she became the most famous journalist in the world. So began a glittering career covering the Eichmann trial, interviewing Che Guevara and scooping the story of Suez collusion. Morris transitioned in the early seventies and documented the experience in _Conundrum_. She was a pioneer and her books, including _Venice_ and the _Pax Britannica_ trilogy, have inspired readers across the globe.
Here, renowned travel writer and biographer Sara Wheeler uncovers the complexity of this twentieth-century icon to reveal a mosaic of contradictions. Morris's work conjured the spirit of place, yet her late masterpiece _Trieste_ celebrates 'the meaning of nowhere'; she was a Welsh nationalist who wasn't Welsh; a preacher of kindness with a cruel side. This is a portrait of an astonishing life, and a scintillating story of longing, travel and never reaching home.
SARA WHEELER is an award-winning and internationally bestselling travel writer and biographer, and a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio; like Jan Morris, she has spent half her working life on the road. Her eleven books include _Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica_ and _Cherry: A Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard_. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a contributing editor of the _Literary Review._