The author of the dilogy UNDER THE STORM CLOUDS AND IN THE WILD WEST OF GREAT CHINA is Alexandra David-Néel, a French writer and traveler who has gained worldwide fame. This amazing woman surpassed Jules Verne's wildest fantasies by visiting places where the white man's foot had not yet set foot. She was the first woman to visit Lhasa, which was forbidden at that time for Europeans, and other reserved corners of the Land of Snows, for almost three years she was a recluse in the mountain cave of Sikkim, comprehending local magic, lived in monasteries in China and Tibet, joining the wisdom of the Buddhist East; met with the Dalai Lama XIII himself, as well as with thinkers, spiritual teachers and other outstanding people of his time.