The Conquest of Bread

A remarkable account by a pioneering woman explorer who was described by Rudyard Kipling as 'the bravest woman of all my knowledge'.Until 1893, Mary Kingsley lived the typical life of a single Victorian woman, tending to sick relatives and keeping house for her brother.

However, on the death of her parents, she undertook an extraordinary decision: with no prior knowledge of the region, she set out alone to West Africa to pursue her anthropological interests and collect botanical specimens. Her subsequent book, published in 1897, is a testament to understatement and humour - few explorers made less of the hardships and dangers experienced while travelling (including unaccompanied treks through dangerous jungles and encounters with deadly animals). Travels in West Africa would challenge (as well as reinforce) contemporary Victorian prejudices about Africa, and also made invaluable contributions to the fields of botany and anthropology.

Above all, however, it has stood the test of time as a gripping, classic travel narrative by a woman whose sense of adventure and fascination with Africa transformed her whole life. This Penguin edition includes a fascinating introduction by Dr Toby Green examining Victorian attitudes to Africa, along with explanatory notes by Lynnette Turner.

MARY KINGSLEY was born in London in 1862. She lived the typical life of a single Victorian woman until 1893, when she embarked on a voyage to West Africa, followed by a second trip the following year. On returning home, she wroteTravels in West Africa, which was published in 1897. Kingsley made one final trip to Africa, enlisting as a volunteer nurse in South Africa during the Boer War. She died there in 1900 and was buried at sea.

LYNETTE TURNER is Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Edge Hill University.

TOBY GREEN is Lecturer in Lusophone African History and Culture at Kings College London. His bookThe Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa appeared in 2011.