Open to other cultures and a supporter of working-class politics in the United Kingdom Lady Duff-Gordon's sympathies were with the hard-working fellahin (peasantry) of Egypt. During the first years of her residence on the Nile she wrote numerous letters to her family, in which she gave vivid descriptions of Eastern life and many details of domestic manners and customs. These were collected, edited by her mother Sarah Austin and published as Letters from Egypt, 1863–1865, in May 1865 to provide the money to support her in exile. Their publication was the first really intimate picture by a European of a country that was into vogue in the West. The image it created of her heroic struggle with consumption while far from home captured the imagination of the reading public. In many of her letters she made frequent scathing remarks about the British aboard and the Egyptian government. The book was so popular that by the end of its of its year of publication the book had gone through three editions. As a result of this fame all British travellers passing through Luxor made a point of calling on her, among whom were the writer Edward Lear in January 1867 and the Prince and Princess of Wales in February 1869. She found it more to her liking describing it as "a golden existence, all sunshine and poetry, and I must add kindness and civility." Hiring a servant Omar, who was known by his nickname Abu Halawy ("father of sweets") Lady Duff-Gordon proceeded upstream. After 10 days on the Nile she observed that she was sleeping and eating and coughing less and by the time the boat reached Asyut after three weeks of travel she was in love with Egypt despite having no interest in country's ancient monuments. Lady Duff-Gordon returned to England in June 1863 but her health continued to fail and so both for its sake and because of her enthrallment with the country she returned to Egypt in October of the same year. As it was by then winter she found that Cairo was too cold and damp and so relocated to Luxor. She was able to persuaded the French consul to allow her to take up residence in Luxor what was called "The French House", a large ramshackle building located on top of the dirt and debris that covered Luxor Temple right up to its roof. She described