Dalrymple sets off to follow in the footsteps of 6th century monk John Moschos, as he travelled round the Middle East from monastery to monastery in the days when the whole region was Christian. Dalrymple has done his homework and cares deeply about his subject. The result is a rich, erudite and elegiac account of people and places, of what once was and what, precariously, remains. Impossible to recommend it too highly.
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 22 February 2004 ) |
