Wild Shores of Love: Adventures of Four Aristocrats in the Ottoman Empire and Other Middle Eastern Countries

This captivating non-fiction work tells the stories of four women from the 19th century who refused the comfortable yet limited life in the West to follow their dreams and passions to the East. The book weaves together the biographies of women, each of whom dared to make changes to live a life free from the conventions and expectations of their time. These women — Isabel Burton, Jane Digby, Amy Duvivier de Rivéry, and Isabelle Eberhardt — discover a world full of new colors, cultures, and romantic experiences that they could only dream of in their home countries.
The book is written in the form of short essays, each dedicated to one of the women and her journey to the “wild shores of love.” They cross the boundaries of Europe and head East — to countries rich in exoticism, mystery, and passion, allowing them to find their own voice and meaning in life. These women differ in their characters and destinies, but they are united by a desire for freedom, which social and cultural restrictions of the West hold them back from. Blanch, while creating their images, emphasizes the difference between Eastern and Western cultures, revealing the depth of the heroines' personal conflicts and their struggle for individuality.