Winner of the RSL Ondaatje Prize
Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award

‘A striding, glorious book . . . A flat-out masterpiece’ The New York Times Book Review

Caught between hostile nations, warring factions and competing ideologies, Afghanistan was in turmoil following the US invasion. Travelling entirely on foot and following the inaccessible mountainous route once taken by the Mughal emperor Babur the Great, Rory Stewart was nearly defeated by the extreme, hostile conditions.

Only with the help of an unexpected companion, and the generosity of the people he met on the way, did he survive to report back on his journey with unique insight on a region closed to the world by twenty-four years of war.

‘This evocative book feels like a long-lost relic of the great age of exploration’ The Guardian

"With a deft, at time poetic vividness, he describes an awesome landscape, scarred by a present and a past of violence and death . . . His encounters with Afghans are tragic, touching and terrifying" - Daily Telegraph

"This evocative book feels like a long lost relic of the great age of exploration" - Guardian

"An insight into the country that few could match" - New Statesman

"Thank goodness for brave people doing crazy things and for a writer in the tradition of Thesiger and Thubron" - Spectator