In 1879 William Miller published his book Wintering in the Riviera, a travel book, containing his travel notes of Italy and France, to advise travellers. Did Emily read the book? – Unlikely but it was a good history of the early days of destination Riviera.
The Rivera, particularity Mentone was becoming famous as a health spa in the wake of Queen Victoria visiting the location in the 1880’s. Although the climate was known for health benefits long before particularly for people recovering from TB. In his article for The Telegraph, travel expert Anthony Peregrine humorously describes health tourist in the Menton of Emily’s era;
The belief spread quickly through the consumptive classes. It was encouraged by doctors, not least the Manchester-born James Henry Bennett who’d had TB himself and apparently been cured by travelling to Menton. His resultant bestseller, Winter and Spring on the Shores of the Mediterranean, channelled the well-heeled and coughing to the Riviera in general, Menton in particular.
Emily’s services as a nurse would have been in high demand in the days before there was any known cure for TB.
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