Ella Maillart Quotes

Ella Maillart was born in Geneva, Switzerland. She was a Swiss adventurer, travel writer, sportswoman, and photographer. She had been captain of the Swiss Women's land hockey team and was an international skier. She also competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics as sailor in the Olympic monotype competition. From the 1930s onwards she spent years exploring oriental republics of the USSR, as well as other parts of Asia, and published a rich series of books which, just as her photographs, are today considered valuable historical testimonies. Her early books were written in French but later she began to write in English. Turkestan Solo describes a journey in 1932 in Soviet Turkestan. The Cruel Way is the title of Ella Maillart's book about this experience, cut short by the outbreak of the second World War.