Sophia Poole was uniquely qualified to provide an account of Egyptian life, manners, and customs. No mere traveler, Poole actually made Cairo her home for more than seven years. As sister of the eminent Arabic scholar, Edward William Lane, with whom she resided, she enjoyed access to the homes, harems, and conversations of some of that city's most prominent citizens. The popularity of Lane's work, An Account of the Manners and Customs of Modern Egyptians (1836), assured an eager audience for Poole's personal accounts of Egyptian life from the women's point of view, The Englishwoman in Egypt (1844), and her work forms a lively companion piece to her brother's. Her experiences in Egypt and her scholarly interests in the East prepared her well to write the texts that accompanied Francis Frith's powerful photographs published in the early 1860s.

Little is recorded about Poole's early life and education, but it is...