This is a stupendous novel, one I never wanted to end. Set in contemporary Bangkok – there are references to the new king – there is, nevertheless, a feeling that the book is set in a slightly timeless, slowed down city. The almost dreamlike remoteness and otherworldliness of The Kingdom …
There’s nothing quite like reading a book set in a city when you’re in that city. (Ouch, that’s clumsily phrased, but I trust you get the gist.) For context, I’m currently in Bangkok, and have thoroughly enjoyed reading the 2nd instalment in the Sonchai Jitpleecheep series, a detective series set …
The fifth instalment in the excellent Perveen Mistry series sees our feisty, intelligent, eminently likeable heroine introduced to the world of films. Today, Bollywood is a widely recognised genre (& word), but back in 1922, films were a relatively new phenomenon, arousing some suspicion. It was a world that spoke …
I first read this book in 2004 when I solo-trekked to Everest Base Camp. I remember loving the book at the time, swept up as I was in the immensity of making it alone to EBC, never mind the mountain itself. I read everything I could lay my hands on …
The ninth book in the fabulous Sam Tay series was published less than 2 weeks ago, on July 17 2025, and is yet another cracking good read. Bangkok’s intelligence circles have received whispered intel that an assassin may be targeting a high-profile upcoming ASEAN meeting in the city. A gunman …
Subtitle “British Women in India” To anyone who has read about the history of India, especially during the years when the Europeans travelled there, there is a misperception that women first started settling there from the 19th century onwards. There is a stereotyped image we have of the British memsahibs …
I deliberately “saved up” this latest Inspector Tay novel for my just-concluded high altitude trekking trip, thinking it would help me while away any bad-weather afternoons, if we were confined to camp. But – thankfully – the weather was fine, so instead I devoured this book tucked into my sleeping …
This fascinating biography of Elizabeth Hawley, a Kathmandu-based American woman, is an absolutely riveting read. Elizabeth Hawley was an avowed non-climber who was, nevertheless, the ultimate authority and arbiter on all things Himalayan climbing and mountaineering. For decades she interviewed climbers as they passed though Kathmandu, grilling them in detail …
I am a huge fan of Mick Conefrey’s books, all of which I have listened to as audio books, as I trot round the streets of New Delhi (where I live). I have trained for mountaineering expeditions (w-a-y more modest than the ones he writes about!) and for marathons, listening …
