Medusa – Michael Dibdin

Unlike recent reads, I really enjoyed this Aurelio Zen mystery, although the man himself didn’t make an appearance until well past page 40. Set in the independent minded mountain borderlands between Italy and Switzerland, this Zen outing provides a darker by more credible plot stetching back 30 years, and Zen’s sleuthing reveals relationships and careers based on lies and deceit. Zen seems at his best when he’s an outsider, and when Michale Dibdin keeps Zen’s personal life playing a remote second fiddle to his detective work and police force politicking.

Amazon.co.uk link: Medusa – Michael Dibdin

For a Pagan Song – Jonny Bealby

I really wasn’t sure about reading Jonny Bealby’s account of his first trip to Pakistan/Afghanistan – I’d borrowed it from the library before going on the Wild Frontiers’ trip to the Hindu Kush, and not read it for fear of spoiling my own first encounters, or jinxing the long awaited and much looked forward to adventure.

Fortunately I decided to give it a whirl after the event, and I am very glad that I did too. This book is not merely an account of Jonny’s trip to a difficult part of the world, but it’s also an account of his ongoing personal journey to come to terms with his girlfriend’s death many years before. The combination is extremely powerful and I am sure I’m not the only reader who cried at various poignant moments.

It was lovely hearing Jonny describe his first meeting with Saifullah and the Kalash at the end of his journeys, and his descriptions of the arduous route he took there – from Dehli to Peshawar, over the Khyber Pass and into the Afghan side of the North West Frontier – deliberately echo Kipling’s tale of The Man Who Would Be King, which first inspired the trip. It provides a fascinating insight into the region in the period preceeding 11 September 2001, and leaves you even more aware of how remote and independent the area is, and its people too.

A fantastic book.
Amazon.co.uk link: For a Pagan Song: In the Footsteps of the Man Who Would Be King – Travels in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan – Jonny Bealby

The 8.55 to Baghdad – Andrew Eames

Back to history-based travel writing after my recent detours into mediaeval and (almost) modern history, with Andrew Eames’ account of the mid-life Middle Eastern travels of Agatha Christie managing to mirror Colm Toibin’s biography of a famous author theme.

I thoroughly enjoyed this account of Andrew Eames’ journey from Berkshire to Baghdad. Tracing Agatha Christie’s own travels on the Orient Express in its heyday (and minus murders), Eames takes us on an increasingly adventurous itinery from British suburbia through continental Europe into the Balkans through Turkey to Syria and finally across the desert and into pre-war Iraq. I realised that his trip to Iraq was with Hinterland Travel – run by a knowledgable and reassuring chap called Geoff, with whom I had an interesting chat at a Destinations travel exhibition years ago.

At the same time he tells the fascinating story of Agatha Christie’s life, from her failed first marriage to her happier second marriage and archaeological digs in the then British Mandate of Mesopotamia. I swiftly revised my Miss Marple image ….

Amazon.co.uk link: The 8.55 to Baghdad – Andrew Eames

The Prester Quest – Nicholas Jubber

A hefty hardback which contains a great tale of two chaps on the trail of Prester John, the mythical and mystical mediaeval priest-king who, legend had it, ruled over a Christian kingdom located somewhere in the mysterious orient, beyond the muslim-controlled lands of the Middle East and North Africa, and with wealth beyond compare.

In 2000 Nicholas Jubber persuaded his mate Mike to accompany him on a mission to follow in the footsteps of Master Philip, a mediaeval physician, who in 1177 was instructed by Pope Alexander III to carry a letter to Prester John asking for help in Christendom’s Crusade in the Holy Land.

We follow Nick and Mike’s journey from Venice around the Eastern Mediterranean and the still-troubled lands of the Middle East and thence into North Africa and south, through the Sudan and into Ethiopia. En route we learn how history, religion and current affairs continue to combine in much the same way as they did over 800 years ago when Master Philip and Pope Alexander were exchanging letters and progress reports.

A very readable book that ticks the boxes for travel writing and mediaeval+modern history. If you like William Dalrymple, you’ll like this (and vice versa).

Buy it: Amazon link

Where the Indus Is Young: Walking to Baltistan – Dervla Murphy

My first taste of Dervla Murphy, although I’ve looked at her travel books many times. I’m not sure I’ll be trying any others – I didn’t like the style or the subjective opinions in this record of her travels in the north of Pakistan over the winter of 1974/1975, taking her 6 year old daughter with her. That said, it was interesting to read about places visited on the Hindu Kush Adventure, and Skardu and environs which Rob, who lent me this book, has been exploring on his own (well, with a guide, jeep driver and cook!), and in particular details of the area’s transport/infrstructure, society and culture thirty years ago.

Amazon.co.uk link: Where the Indus Is Young: Walking to Baltistan – Dervla Murphy