Born February 20, 1903, Geneva, Switzerland
Died March 27, 1997, Chandolin, Switzerland

During the 1930s Japan, the Soviet Union, and China were battling for power in central Asia. China’s last dynasty had been overthrown in 1912, ending some thirty centuries of imperial rule, and the country was suffering from unrest and civil war. It disintegrated into regions ruled by warlords—independent military leaders—and was fought over by rival political parties, particularly the Communists and the Chinese Nationalists, or Kuomintang. Japan, rising rapidly as a world power, tried to take advantage of the turmoil by seizing territories under Chinese control. The Soviet Union, too, after its communist revolution in 1917, looked to spread its new socialized way of life across its borders. Into this unsettled region ventured wealthy Swiss adventurer Ella Maillart (pronounced “mayAHR”). Her seven-month, 3,500-mile journey from Peking (Beijing) to Kashmir through Chinese Turkestan...