The Sheik

The Sheik is a 1919 novel by English writer E. M. Hull. It was the first of a series of novels she wrote with desert settings that set off a major revival of the "desert romance" genre of romantic fiction. Diana is planning to leave on a month-long trip into the desert, taking no one with her but an Arab guide. Nobody thinks this is a sensible idea. Excerpt: "Are you coming in to watch the dancing, Lady Conway?" "I most decidedly am not. I thoroughly disapprove of the expedition of which this dance is the inauguration. I consider that even by contemplating such a tour alone into the desert with no chaperon or attendant of her sex, with only native camel drivers and servants, Diana Mayo is behaving with recklessness and impropriety that is calculated to cast a slur not only on her own reputation but also on the prestige of her country."