Alone in Arabian Nights

‘This’, begins the introduction by Professor Edward Sir Denison Ross, ‘is one of the most extraordinary books I have ever read.’ Whether tackling highwaymen or learning how to sell trinkets, the gusto and panache of the author shines through. Adventurer, scholar, and lover of novels of the American Wild West, the Sirdar’s noble lineage does not stop him lodging in caravanserais and living like a penniless Dervish, thus offering a glimpse of the swashbuckling East that few are privileged to see. The introduction concludes: ‘So here you are, the treat of a lifetime, from the greatest contemporary writer and traveller of the East!’