Synopsis of City Of Djinns

Winner Of The 1994 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award And Sunday Times Young British Writer Of The Year ???Dalrymple Is Probably The Best Travel Writer Of His Generation??????Daily Mail ???As The Author Of The Best Travel Book Of Recent Years At The Intensely Irritating Age Of Twenty-Two, William Dalrymple Has Now Shown That In Xanadu Was No Fluke. City Of Djinns Is An Entertaining Mix Of History And Diary Informed By A Deep Curiousity About The Ways In Which The Ghosts Of Even The Most Distant Past Still Walk In The Twentieth Century.??????Christopher Lockwood, Daily Telegraph ???Dalrymple Has Pulled It Off Again ??? At A Time When The Book Of Travels Is Beginning To Lose Its Fashionable Allure, City Of Djinns?? Is Not Really A Travel Book At All. It Is A Kind Of Memoir Recording The Response Of A Single, Gentle, Merry And Learned Mind To The Presence Of An Ancient City ... Dalrymple Is Anything But Avoyeur. Even His Excursions Into The World O The Eunuchs Are Conducted With A Kind Of Grave Innocence. He Is More A Pilgrim Than An Observer, Always Trying To Understand ??? It Is The Work Of A Man Who Has Consciously Chosen To Commit Himself To The Profession Of Letters, And In It We See The First Fine Rapture Of In Xanadu Deepening To A Profounder Dedication ??? Hours And Hours Of Pleasure For His Readers.??????Jan Morris, Independent ???One One Level There Are The Amusing Rites Of Passage, The Struggles With Bureaucracy, The Eccentricity Of Dalrymple???S Landlord, All Entertainingly Related. Dalrymple Has A Way Of Letting You Smell And Feel The City. There Are Beautifully Chiselled Descriptions Of A Grand Capital ??? But Much Of The Book???S Strength Lies In Dalrymple???S Skill In Peeling The Historical Onion And Showing How (The) New Delhi Resonates With The Old ??? A Splendid Tapestry.??????Trevor Fishlock, Sunday Telegraph About The Author William Dalrymple Was Born In Scotland And Brought Up On The Shores Of Firth Of Forth. He Is The Author Of Five Books Of History And Travel, Including The Highly Acclaimed Best-Seller City Of Djinns, Which Won The 1994 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award And The Sunday Times Young British Writer Of The Year Award. His Previous Book, White Mughals, Garnered A Range Of Prizes, Including The Prestigious Wolfson Prize For History 2003 And The Scottish Book Of The Year Prize. It Was Also Shortlisted For The Pen History Award, The Kiriyama Prize And The James Tait Black Memorial Prize. A Stage Version By Christopher Hampton Has Been Co-Commissioned By The National Theatre And The Tamasha Theatre Company. A Fellow Of The Royal Society Of Literature And Of The Royal Asiatic Society, Dalrymple Was Awarded The 2002 Mungo Park Medal By The Royal Scottish Geographical Society For His 'Outstanding Contribution To Travel Literature' And The Sykes Medal Of The Royal Society Of Asian Affairs In 2005 For His Contribution To The Understanding Of Contemporary Islam. He Wrote And Presented Three Television Series, Stones Of The Raj, Sufi Soul And Indian Journeys, The Last Of Which Won The Grierson Award For Best Documentary Series At Bafta In 2002. In December 2005 His Article On The Madrasas Of Pakistan Was Awarded The Prize For Print Article Of The Year At The 2005 Fpa Media Awards. He Is Married To The Artist Olivia Fraser, And They Have Three Children. They Divide Their Time Between London, Scotland And Delhi.