Shadow of the Silk Road

“Moving in a way that’s rare in travel literature…Thubron goes to places most other sojourners can’t.” – Lorraine Adams, New York Times Book Review

”[Thubron is] intrepid, resourceful … and immensely talented … a splendid book.” – Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World

“Thubron has done it all, with sparkling grace … He is a brilliant brooder, artful in his melancholy.” – San Francisco Chronicle

“An exhausting journey and a marvelous book.” – Harper’s Magazine

“A fantastically descriptive writer, Thubron digs through the history of Central Asia…Perfect for vicarious travelers.” – New York magazine

“An illuminating account of a breathtaking journey.” – Booklist

”[An] absorbing travel epic…Thubron’s poetic eye still teases out gorgeous subtleties in the panorama.“” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)

”[Thubron] augments his trenchant narrative with impressive historical background and evocative, lyrical prose…An impressive, rewarding…trek.” – Kirkus Reviews

“Splendid…Sumptuously detailed, elegantly written and riveting…Thubron misses nothing.” – Providence Journal

Colin Thubron is an acclaimed travel writer and novelist. His first books were about the Middle East - Damascus, Lebanon and Cyprus. In 1982 he travelled by car into the Soviet Union, a journey he described in Among the Russians. From these early experiences developed his classic travel books: Behind the Wall: A Journey through China (winner of the Hawthornden Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Award), The Lost Heart of Asia, In Siberia (Prix Bouvier), Shadow of the Silk Road and To a Mountain in Tibet.

Among other honors, Colin Thubron has received the Ness award of the Royal Geographical Society and the Livingstone Memorial Medal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs. In 2007 he was made CBE. He was elected President of the Royal Society of Literature from 2010 to 2017, and named an RSL Companion of Literature in 2020.