Book description
As a child, award-winning travel writer Stanley Stewart dreamed of
crossing Mongolia on horseback. This is the story of how that dream was
fulfilled by following in the footsteps of a 13th-century Franciscan friar.
Eight centuries ago the Mongols burst forth from Central Asia in a
series of spectacular conquests that took them from the Danube to the
Yellow Sea. Their empire was seen as the final triumph of the nomadic
'barbarians'. But in time the Mongols sank back into the obscurity from
which they had emerged, almost without trace. Remote and outlandish,
Outer Mongolia became a metaphor for exile, a lost domain of tents and
horsemen, little changed since the days of Genghis Khan.
In this remarkable book, Stanley Stewart sets off in the wake of an
obscure 13th century Franciscan friar on a pilgimage across the old
empire, from Istanbul to the distant homeland of the Mongol Hordes. The
heart of his odyssey is a thousand-mile ride on horseback, among nomads
for whom travel is a way of life, through a trackless land governed by
winds and patterns of migration. On a journey full of bizarre characters
and unexpected encounters, he crosses the desert and mountains of
Central Asia, battles through the High Altay and the fringes of the
Gobi, to the wind-swept grasslands of the steppes and the birthplace of
Genghis Khan.
Vivid, hilarious, and compelling, this eagerly-awaited book will take
its place among travel classics - a thrilling tale of adventure, a comic
masterpiece, an evocative portrait of a medieval land marooned in the
modern world. 'One of the best travel books of the year.' Sunday Times
'Humane and funny…an excellent book with sharp, compassionate
observations on the lives of people struggling with the weight of
history.' Spectator
'Stewart is a sensitive, observant traveller, and a gifted writer…in
this entertaining, colourful and moving book he reveals both the sad
absurdity of this beguiling land and the heartbreaking pathos of its
modern history.' Sara Wheeler, Literary Review
'A classic travel story, beautifully written…' Wanderlust Stanley
Stewart is a regular contributor to the Sunday Times and the Daily
Telegraph where his work, taking him to over fifty countries, has won
numberous prestigious awards, including, on three occasions, Travel
Writer of the Year. He is the author of Old Serpent Nile, an account of
his journey to the source of the river, and of Froniers of Heaven, the
story of his journey across China from Shanghai to Xinjiang, for which
he won the Thomas Cook/Daily Telegraph Travel Book Award. He was born in
Ireland, grew up in Canada and lives in London.
