A deeply affecting memoir of a childhood in Africa and the continent's horrendous wars, which Hartley witnessed at first hand as a journalist in the 1990s. Shortlisted for the prestigious Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction, this is a masterpiece of autobiographical journalism.
This affecting memoir tells the story of a foreign correspondent's quest to seek solace and solitude in the mountains and deserts of Arabia and Yemen, after witnessing at first hand the brutal wars in Rwanda and Bosnia. Whilst there, he discovers the tragic story of his father's friend murdered 50 years before... and he starts out on a new quest. "The most startling memoir of Africa for a generation... Hartley always writes beautifully... gripping and intensely moving" "The Guardian"
