The publication of a book in English on Pakistan for the general reader is sufficient of a rarity to be welcomed. Isambard Wilkinson was correspondent for The Daily Telegraph and The Economist in that country, but do not expect an analysis of the current political and economic situation. For a start, the author is writing about events a decade or more ago, added to which he is an incurable romantic determined to go beyond what he calls “the narrow, unforgiving scope of journalism”.