A totally fascinating series of essays, subtitled by the author 'Indian Travels and Encounters'. William Dalrymple has an uncanny ability to reach the people at the heart of the action, be they deposed maharajas, politicians, fanatical guerrillas or their heavily guarded leader and he writes powerfully and movingly about the mixture of hope, despair, enterprise, corruption, faith, nostalgia, injustice, violence, squalor and beauty of the India he knows and loves.
(Jane Grey-Edwards - bwl 5 October 2000 ) |
