Adventure

Joan Rosita Forbes was born in Riseholme Hall, England, the eldest of four children, daughter of a landowner and M.P. In 1911 she married a soldier and travelled with him on duty in China, India, and Australia. She did not like being an Army wife and was quarrelling with her husband, so they separated in 1915 and she returned to England. During World War I, she served as a driver at the Front, receiving two medals from France. After the war, she resumed her travels with a friend. Upon her return to Europe, she worked as a journalist covering the French colonies in North Africa. She wrote about her experiences abroad in her first book, Unconducted Wanderer (1919). She continued to write and travel, and at her death in 1967 she had published 18 books.