To the Ends of the Earth. Susanna de Vries

Travel writer, explorer and novelist.<br /> <br />'Gaunts never give up', the motto of Mary's ancestor, Prince John of Gaunt (1340-1399) was quoted by Mary's father, William Gaunt, to his children.<br /> <br />In the 1880s, Mary Gaunt was one of the first women admitted to Melbourne University. Miss Gaunt's desire to study law was denied since male academics believed women incapable of studying 'difficult' subjects. In 1909, Mary, now widowed, led her own expedition into the West African jungle, staying in remote villages to gather information for her book 'Alone in West Africa'. In 1913, in the absence of sealed roads, Mary travelled in a bone-shaking mule cart from Peking to the edge of the Gobi desert and returned to Europe on a Russian troop train. Her amazing experiences in China and Russia produced two more travel books. Mary donated her royalties to the Red Cross to help Belgian refugees. For many years she lived in Italy and, during World War Two, died in France.<br /> <br />Prelude: Outwitting Mussolini<br />1. 'Gaunts never give up'<br />2. Encountering prejudice at university<br />3. Finding Doctor Right<br />4. Mary postpones a visit to China<br />5. Africa – the 'Dark Continent'<br />6. Heading a band of naked warriors<br />7. 'Madame, you have the heart of a lion'<br />8. 'Murder Hill' and German Togoland<br />9. Black magic among the Ashanti<br />10. The male dinosaurs of Londonís RGS<br />11. Through Tsarist Russia to Peking<br />12. Inside the walls of the Forbidden City<br />13. A political assassination<br />14. The Great Wall of China<br />15. 'Behind every small foot is a jar of tears'<br />16. Chengde and the hunting palace of the Manchu<br />17. The temple of the Three Mountains<br />18. 'Please keep your last bullet for yourself'<br />19. Last days in China<br />20. Exploring the Amur River and Saghalien<br />21. On a troop train through Siberia<br />22. St Petersburg and after<br />23. Captured by Germans<br />24. The Gaunts in wartime<br />25. The final years of a cosmopolitan author