Letters

I first read the letters from the embassy to Turkey in a course on Restoration & 18th century women authors; I loved the text, and I knew I would have to find a complete copy of her collected letters. To read Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's letters is to become closely acquainted with an intelligent, cultured, inquisitive and opinionated woman whose social circle included Alexander Pope and other worthies. Her insights into the wholly separate women's culture of the Ottoman Empire is fascinating, exposing a world unavailable to any male travelers to Turkey. As a narrator she is wonderfully descriptive without losing a shred of personality -- a personality which remains vivid across two and a half centuries.