Mary Seacole [Paperback]

'Robinson masterfully delivers a crisp life, bursting with detail.'

'In her chatty and discursive book Jane Robinson successfully conveys Mary Seacole's charisma, independent spirit and determination.'

A beautiful description of racial injustice.

Robinson, who has a reputation for resurrecting lost colonial
voices, has produced a crisp life, full of detail
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

The Times called her a heroine, Florence Nightingale called her a brothel-keeping quack, and Queen Victoria's nephew called her, simply, 'Mammy' - Mary Seacole was one of the most eccentric and charismatic women of her era. Born at her mother's hotel in Jamaica in 1805, she became an independent 'doctress' combining the herbal remedies of her African ancestry with sound surgical techniques. On the outbreak of the Crimean War she arrived in London desperate to join Florence Nightingale at the Front, but the authorities refused to see her. Being black, nearly 50, rather stout, and gloriously loud in every way, she was obviously unsuitable. Undaunted, Mary travelled to Balaklava under her own steam to build the 'British Hotel', just behind the lines. It was an outrageous venture, and a huge success - she became known and loved by everyone from the rank and file to the royal family. For more than a century after her death this remarkable woman was all but forgotten. This, the first full-length biography of a Victorian celebrity recently voted the greatest black Briton in history, brings Mary Seacole centre stage at last.

Jane Robinson is a writer and lecturer who specialises in history witnessed by women. She has published several popular books on women travellers and a 'secret history of enterprising women', Pandora's Daughters (Constable, 2002).