When ten Pakistani men walk into Kathleen Jamie's small Scottish town on a peace march, in November 2001, she is thrown back to her own travels in Northern Pakistan and a book she wrote a decade earlier. Among Muslims is the account of Jamie's time travelling alone and living among the Shia and Ismaili Muslims in the Northern Areas - the mountainous regions wedged between Afghanistan, India and China and one of the most volatile borderlands in the world. A bold, sympathetic and superbly written book, Among Muslims delves into Jamie's own Scottish upbringing to find links with the purdah-observing lifestyle of her Shia Muslim hosts. It is a privileged account from an acclaimed poet, who during her travels was often literally the only woman on the bus. Among Muslims was originally published as The Golden Peak. For this edition, Kathleen Jamie returned to Pakistan to write an Afterword and Preface.

"Genius is no stranger to the work of Kathleen Jamie, whose finely poised writing and subtly profound sensibility have made her such an artisan of the human heart." - Scotsman

"What is ultimately most impressive is the energy, good humour and panache with which Jamie's language rises to the variety of its occasions." - Times Literary Supplement

"A beautifully crafted account... the power of Jamie's prose is spare but magical. She writes tenderly but without sentimentality. Should be required reading." - Daily Telegraph

"A wonderfully sensual study of the land and its people which feels more timeless than topical" - Observer

"Kathleen Jamie's prose writing is utterly luminous, as you'd expect from her poetry, but Among Muslims (Sort of Books) is much more than a well-written travel book, and its insights are even more urgent in the light of the dangerous and criminal crudity of President Bush's approach to the region" - Independent on Sunday Book of the Year Choice 2002

"This eloquent tale with its plea for understanding and tolerance couldn't have been better timed." - Sunday Times

"It is her beautiful prose, drawn from a rural Scottish palate, that really illuminates the book - a wonderfully sensual study of the land and its people which feels more topical than timeless." - Observer

"A better emissary to the Karakoram could not be imagined. She displays a deep warmth unemcumbered by illusion." - Scotland on Sunday