Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell

Book description
With prose as graceful and effortless as a seductive float down the Nile, Mary Doria Russell illuminates the long, rich history of the Middle East with a story that brilliantly elucidates today’s headlines. Agnes Shanklin, a forty-year-old schoolteacher from Ohio, has come into a modest inheritance that allows her to take the trip of a lifetime to Egypt and the Holy Land. Arriving at the Semiramis Hotel just as the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference convenes, she is freed for the first time from her mother’s withering influence and finds herself being wooed by a handsome, mysterious German. At the same time, Agnes–with her plainspoken American opinions–is drawn into the company of Winston Churchill, T. E. Lawrence, and Lady Gertrude Bell, who will, in the space of a few days, redraw the world map to create the modern Middle East. As they change history, Agnes too will find her own life transformed forever. Published in 2008, 288 pages.
Description from book jacket

Research the author and the book using library resources
Information on the author’s life and works is available through our library’s online resources. Recommended online resources for Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell include Literature Resource Center and Academic Search Premier. Enter your library barcode and then use the author’s name or the book title to search for full-text encyclopedia or magazine articles.

Discussion questions
Dreamers of the Day discussion questions from Random House, Inc

Additional information
NPR special report 1098-2004 The Middle East and the West: A Troubled History
Mary Doria Russell’s website 

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