Solita Solano was born in New England in 1888. Both in youth and maturity she was strong-willed, inquisitive, and independent. Expressing her dislike for educational systems and her love of travel early in life, she spent three years in the Philippines instead of going to college. There she helped to survey and build coral roads. After her return to America, she began her writing career in 1914 as a cub reporter for the Boston Herald-Traveler, where she was soon promoted to the post of drama editor and critic (becoming the first woman to hold that position on a major daily U.S. newspaper). Five years later Solano went to work for the New York Tribune , where she served as drama editor for one year before departing in 1921 for Europe and the Near East with her friend Janet Flanner.

Solano spent time traveling in Greece, Crete, Turkey, and Vienna before settling...