Lesley Blanch, 102; author, traveler

Lesley Blanch, an English author of biography, travel memoirs and cookbooks whose best-known work, “The Wilder Shores of Love,” tells of four 19th century European women who were as adventurous as Blanch was in her life, has died. She was 102.

A world traveler who often toured alone in Afghanistan, Egypt and the Middle East, Blanch died May 7 in Menton, France, her longtime home. Her death was reported in several British newspapers.

The exact cause was not given.

“The Wilder Shores of Love,” Blanch’s first book, became an immediate success when it was published in 1954. In it she profiles four women who left convention behind. One, Jane Digby, became the wife of a Syrian tribesman and lived a Bedouin lifestyle.

Another, Aimee Dubucq de Rivery, was kidnapped and sent to live in an Ottoman sultan’s harem. Isabelle Eberhardt roamed North Africa alone, dressed as a man, and Isabel Burton traveled with her husband, Richard, who explored Africa and the Middle East.

As a writer Blanch was attracted to romantic characters who were as fascinated by the East as she was. “Pierre Loti” (1983) is a biography of the French naval officer who wrote about places where he traveled in the Near and Far East. “The Sabres of Paradise” (1960) captures Chechnya’s struggle against czarist Russia in the 19th century. “Journey Into the Mind’s Eye” (1968) is a memoir about her experiences in the Soviet Union.

She also wrote two cookbooks, “Around the World in 80 Dishes” (1955) and “From Wilder Shores” (1989), with chapters on meals she had while hitchhiking in Afghanistan and riding the Trans-Siberian railway.

Born in London in 1904, Blanch attended the Slade School of Fine Art and began working as an illustrator and journalist in the 1920s. In the late 1930s she joined the staff of British Vogue magazine, where she remained until 1944, covering theater, books and lifestyles. Her first major travel adventures were to the Soviet Union in the 1930s. She broadened her itinerary considerably after marrying Romain Gary, a French author and diplomat, in 1945. They lived in Los Angeles, Paris and Sofia, Bulgaria, among other cities where he was posted.

Gary’s popular novel, “Lady L,” in 1958 was said to be inspired by Blanch. In it, a worldly grand dame works the social circuit, telling captivating stories along the way. Sophia Loren starred in a 1965 movie version of the book.

While Blanch and Gary lived in Los Angeles beginning in the mid-1950s, they met Hollywood directors and actors including Jean Seberg. In the early 1960s Gary divorced Blanch and married Seberg.

Gary was Blanch’s third and last husband. Her first marriage was dissolved. Her second ended in divorce.

When her marriage to Gary ended, Blanch left Los Angeles for Paris and settled in Menton in the early 1970s. From there she continued to travel, to Cairo, Tehran and the Caucasus, among other places.

Journalists called on Blanch when she was well into old age and wrote vivid descriptions of her house filled with Russian icons, Turkish carpets, Persian paintings and other mementos.

Fire destroyed the house in 1994. She lost most of her possessions, including an extensive library, but at the age of 90 she decided to rebuild on the same spot.

The fire didn’t destroy her vivid memories, however.

“One has lived so many different lives,” she said at age 98 in an interview with The Times of London, “happiest always when traveling.”

She had no known survivors.

mary.rourke@latimes.com