'It comes as a revelation... perhaps the best personal travel account of Egypt ever written; more satisfying even than flaubert's roistering letters and journals.  Well, actually, Flaubert is better on the brothels, Nightingale on the temples, and her writing is no less accomplished. She approached Egypt with the soul of a mystic, the sensitivity of an artist and the discernment of a scholar. Visually the book is as exciting as the words.  The appearance of the correspondence in this format is a major publishing coup, and, simultaneously, in its own way, a major Egyptian discovery.' John Anthony West, New York Times