Travels in a Dervish Cloak

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Shortlisted forthe 2018 Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year

'Adiscursive, funny, moving portrait of Pakistan, one of the most opaque and difficultand complex of countries, but here rendered in bright chiaroscuro and with obviousaffection. It's a brilliant debut by a major new talent.' William Dalrymple

Spellbound by his grandmother's Anglo-Indian heritage and theexuberant annual visits of her friend the Begum, Isambard Wilkinson became enthralledby Pakistan as an intrepid teenager, eventually working there as a foreign correspondentduring the War on Terror. Seeking the land behind the headlines, Bard sets out todiscover the essence of a country convulsed by Islamist violence. What of the old,mystical Pakistan has survived and what has been destroyed His is a funny, hashish-andwhisky-scented travel book from the frontline, full of open-hearted delight anda poignant lust for life.

*** Shortlisted for the 2017 Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award

'Isambard Wilkinson'sTravels in a Dervish Cloakis a discursive, funny, moving portrait of Pakistan, one of the most opaque and difficult and complex of countries, but here rendered in bright chiaroscuro and with obvious affection. It a brilliant debut by a major new talent.' William Dalrymple

'Conjures up the best of Thubron and Dalrymple while being informed by a distinctive voice, a deep knowledge of Pakistan's tragic history and an unusual commitment to that country based on close family links'Dervla Murphy

'I roared through it. A great balance of self-deprecating wit, oldfashioned adventure and insight. Very good fun' Owen Bennett Jones, author

'Travels in a Dervish Cloak does an excellent job ... redressing the balance by revealing the complex patchwork of the real country, home to diverse multitudes. In this it shows the great value of travel writing itself, when skilfully practised by such a humane, humorous and enthusiastic author'Tim Hannigan, author.

Author Bio

Isambard Wilkinson was born in 1971. As a young boy in Ireland, he listened to family stories of adventurous botanists and artists, sailors and soldiers who travelled through China and Africa, India and Albania. It fired an urge to roam. Expelled from school at 15, after university he was refused entry into the Royal Marines and instead worked for Country Life magazine before leaving to travel throughout Pakistan, an ambition curtailed by kidney failure. After a stretch on dialysis and his first kidney transplant, he became a foreign correspondent for the Daily Telegraph in Spain, and then in Pakistan, where he completed his travels, the subject of this book. Following a second transplant, he now works for AFP in Hong Kong.