My Mesoptamia: Notes of Gertrude BellHer forthcoming book is My Mesoptamia: Notes of Gertrude Bell. Gertrude Bell (4 July 1868 - 12 July 1926) is an amazing Victorian woman - explorer, archeologist (whose pioneering work holds up to this day), writer, translator and advisor to the British government.Bell is the subject of the recent Werner Herzog biopic, Queen of the Desert, starring Nicole Kidman, a film which romanticizes Bell. Valdivia's book examines...