Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands (1857) is the autobiography of a Jamaican woman whose fame rivaled Florence Nightingale's during the Crimean War. Mary Seacole traveled widely before eventually arriving in London, where her offer to volunteer as a nurse in the war was met with racism and refusal. Undaunted, she set out independently to the Crimea, where she acted as doctor and 'mother' to wounded soldiers while running her business, the 'British Hotel'. Told with energy, warmth, and humour, her remarkable life story is a key work of nineteenth-century literarure that provides insights into the history of race politics.