At the same time, Stark's feelings about her personal life shifted, at least temporarily. Her mother
had often pressured her to marry: as she now wrote to Venetia Buddicom
: I used to feel that...
Family and Intimate relationships
Freya Stark
Besse had Middle Eastern connections, being based in Aden. He met Evelyn Waugh
in 1931, and Waugh wrote amusingly about him in When the Going Was Good. Besse was also married, and FS
accepted...
Friends, Associates
Freya Stark
In mid-1923, Viva Jeyes
introduced Freya and Flora Stark
to the Buddicom family, who owned property near La Mortola. Freya then began a close friendship with Venetia Buddicom
, travelled with her soon after this...
Friends, Associates
Freya Stark
Through Venetia Buddicom
, she met Sir Henry Lawrence
, former acting governor of Bombay, who in turn introduced her to Lionel Smith
and Arthur Hinks
, the latter of whom was Secretary to the...
Reception
Freya Stark
FS
's biographer Molly Izzard
finds the tone of this book—especially the sections concerning the illicit trip made by Stark and Venetia Buddicom
into Syria—often very schoolgirlish.
Izzard, Molly. Freya Stark: A Biography. Hodder and Stoughton, 1993.
57
Travel
Freya Stark
FS
and her friend Venetia Buddicom
went illicitly by donkey into the foothills of the Syrian state of Jebel Druze. (Previous travellers to the Druze included Lady Hester Stanhope
and Gertrude Bell
.)
Geniesse, Jane Fletcher. Passionate Nomad. Random House, 1999.
68, 81
Travel
Freya Stark
She travelled alone to Damascus, where she was the guest of another Arab-Christian family, and then was taken through the desert by members of one of Syria's feudal families, the El Azm tribe. She then...