An adventure story of real risk-taking & the heroic age of travel. Ten years ago, at the age of 53, Shelby Tucker set out to cross Burma on foot from China to India when land access to Burma was forbidden. Tucker had a rucksack, a diary & some inaccurate maps. He recruited a 6ft 4in Swede, Mats, whom he had met on the train to Beijing. Near the beginning of their walk through the jungle they encountered a group of naked boys bathing -- they realized too late that their Chinese Army uniforms were on the banks. With typical sangfroid, Tucker leapt in to join them, shouting incomprehensible English greetings! Before long they were in the hands of the Kachin Independence Army & managed to survive many near misses with the Burmese Army. Despite pain & constant danger, Tucker recorded each day the vivid beauty of the country, & the courtesy & hospitality of the Kachins (the most important of Burma`s hidden colonies, about whom very little has been written). Among Insurgents was Colin Thubron`s Book of the Year, The Guardian`s number 1 travel hardback & the Sunday Times` number 2. It recevied warm acclaim from Anthony Sattin (`packed with insights into tribal identity & the opium trade`), Robert Carver (`outstandingly well written in the insouciant Peter Fleming tradition`), Sara Wheeler (`a thrilling book`) & it must surely be shortlised for the Thomas Cook Award. ...

Reflecting on 25 years of travelling around the islands of Scotl&, the author of this book recounts the time he has spent isl&-lingering, from Shetland & Orkney in the north, to Islay & Jura in the south. The author calls for a more considered & caring attitude towards these landscapes, their wildlife tribes & the human communities which inhabit them. ...

When ten Pakistani men walk into Kathleen Jamie`s small Scottish town on a peace march, in November 2001, she is thrown back to her own travels in Northern Pakistan & a book she wrote a decade earlier. ” Among Muslims” is the account of Jamie`s time travelling alone & living among the Shia & Ismaili Muslims in the Northern Areas
- the mountainous regions wedged between Afghanistan, India & China & one of the most volatile borderlands in the world. A bold, sympathetic & superbly written book, ” Among Muslims” delves into Jamie`s own Scottish upbringing to find links with the purdah-observing lifestyle of her Shia Muslim hosts. It is a privileged account from an acclaimed poet, who during her travels was often literally the only woman on the bus. ” Among Muslims” was originally published as ” The Golden Peak”. For this edition, Kathleen Jamie returned to Pakistan to write an Afterword & Preface.
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` It doesn`t matter. I have books, new books, & I can bear anything as long as there are books.` Fifteen-year-old Morwenna lives in Wales with her twin sister & a mother who spins dark magic for ill. One day, Mori & her mother fight a powerful, magical battle that kills her sister & leaves Mori crippled. Devastated, Mori flees to her long-lost father in Engl&. Adrift, outcast at boarding school, Mori retreats into the worlds she knows best: her magic & her books. She works a spell to meet kindred souls & continues to devour every fantasy & science fiction novel she can lay her hands on. But danger lurks... She knows her mother is looking for her & that when she finds her, there will be no escape. ...

Among the Believers is V. S. Naipaul's classic account of his journeys through Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia & Indonesia; 'the believers' are the Muslims he met on those journeys, young men & women battling to regain the original purity of their faith in the hope of restoring order to a chaotic world. It is a uniquely valuable insight into modern Islam, & the comforting simplifications of religious fanaticism. ...

A powerfully toldmemoir of family, separation, & the things left unsaid, in the wake of the Second World War Raised by her grandparents i the USA, Inara Verzemnieks grew up among expatriates, scattering smuggled Latviansand over the coffins of the dead, singing folk songs about a land she hadnever visited. Her grandmother Livija`s stories recalled the remote village in Latvia left behind, where she & her sister, Ausma, were separated during the Second World War. They would not see each other again for more than fiftyyears. Coming to know Ausma & the trauma of her exile to Siberia under Stalin, Inara pieces together her grandmother`s survival throughthe years as a refugee, & her grandfather`s own troubling history as aconscript in the Nazi forces. As she interweaves two parts of the family storyin spellbinding, lyrical prose, she offers us a profound & cathartic accountof loss & survival, resilience & love. ...

Wilfred Thesiger, arguably last century`s greatest explorer, recalls his travels among the mountain ranges of Asia. Although he originally wanted it to be a book of photographs, his diaries contained enough information to accompany the pictures with a full narrative. He is not driven by the desire to conquer an unclimbed mountain, he is not a trained mountaineer, he loves mountains as they are. With great respect & awe he travels extensively at intervals, over the years, among mountains & mountain people in remote areas of the Middle East & Asia; particularly in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan, the Karakorams, the Hindu Kush & Ladakh, visiting Chitral & wild, untravelled Nuristan. Spanning a period of over 30 years (1951-1983) this book draws on Thesiger`s original diaries of his various journeys & his vivid memories of them, &

Includes:: some 80 or so previously unpublished photographs of the stunning mountain scenery he saw & the people he encountered.`I have always been attracted by mountains...` Wilfred Thesiger, 1987

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As a civil war shatters a country & consumes its people, historian Christian Sahner offers a poignant account of Syria, where the past profoundly shapes its dreadful present. Among the Ruins blends history, memoir & reportage, drawing on the author`s extensive knowledge of Syria in ancient, medieval, & modern times, as well as his experiences living in the Levant on the eve of the war & in the midst of the ` Arab Spring`. These plotlines converge in a rich narrative of a country in constant flux -- a place renewed by the very shifts that, in the near term, are proving so destructive. Sahner focuses on five themes of interest to anyone intrigued & dismayed by Syria`s fragmentation since 2011: the role of Christianity in society; the arrival of Islam; the rise of sectarianism & competing minorities; the emergence of the Ba`ath Party; & the current pitiless civil war. Among the Ruins is a brisk & illuminating read, an accessible introduction to a country with an enormously rich past & a tragic present. For anyone seeking to understand Syria, this book should be their starting point. ...

Among the Russians is a marvellous account of Colin Thubron`s solitary journey by car from St Petersburg & the Baltic states, south to Georgia & Armenia. A gifted writer & intrepid traveller, Thubron grapples with the complexities of Russian identity & relays his extraordinary journey in characteristically lyrical style. This is an enthralling account of the habits & idiosyncrasies of a fascinating nation & also a sharp & insightful social commentary on Russian life. ...

As the summer draws to a close, a few snowbeds
- some as big as icebergs
- survive in the Scottish Highlands. Christopher Nicholson`s

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