Baghdad Sketches

This is prolific author Freya Stark's first published book, dating from 1932 - although this edition is from 1937 and contains eight additional chapters written some six years later than the original essays.

Contained in this book are a series of what she calls ‘sketches', but are more accurate vignettes or essays as they were mostly intended articles for the Baghdad Times, in approximately 1931. Each provides a curated glimpse at her life, living cheaply in Baghdad, and experiencing the Iraqi and Bedouin cultures around her. Travel to and from Syria and time in Kuwait are all included - a significant number of the later chapters feature Kuwait.

The writing shows a willingness of Stark to learn and be taught about different cultures, she turns nobody aside without engaging to try and gain some insight; she shows she is willing to share he knowledge also. With a grounding like this is easy to see why she became such a popular author.

I enjoyed the earlier essays more, I think because they were simpler and more focussed. Some of the final essays became complex, and although nicely composed, I found myself re-reading paragraphs to pick out the point being made, or what the link with the following paragraph was, as I had missed it.

A number of photographs (black & white), which are good for the time - especially the portraits, and a series of ink sketches (attributed to EN Prescott) are scattered through the book, which definitely add to the picture painted by the words.

4 stars