The Hills Of Adonis

Description

Adventurous, observant, modest, poetical, Mr Thubron is a traveller after one's own heart' Sunday Times Ostensibly this is a book about Lebanon, finely written and deeply felt - not the Lebanon which a Beirut businessman would recognize, but a coastline of small historic ports and a littoral of beautiful mountains. In this country the ruins of Phoenician, Greek and Roman are among the most impressive in the world. Crusader castles and Arab palaces stand together in the hills, and the people are a unique medley of races and religions.For five hundred miles the author walked through the mountains, following tracks and rivers. His journey was was not only a survey of a remarkable country, but a quest for the divinities of the region - Astarte and Adonis, who held the secrets of death and rebirth in the ancient cults of Lebanon. He visited almost every place of cultural importance, and lived with the people along his way, recording strange remnants left over from the religion of Baalim and high places.So The Hills of Adonis is both a travel book and a personal journal; for the quest, in its last analysis is the search for meaning, a reflection on faith and reason and a poem on the joy and complexity of living.

Colin Thubron is the master of classic travel writing, and a previous winner of the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. His first writing was about the Middle East - Damascus, Lebanon and Cyprus. In 1982 he travelled all over Russia in an ancient Morris Marina - pursued at every stage by the KGB. From these early experiences developed his travel books- Among the Russians, Behind the Wall, The Lost Heart of Asia, In Siberia and Shadow of the Silk Road (all available in Vintage). So great is his dedication to travelling in Russia and China, that he has learned Russian and Mandarin in order to be able to speak to ordinary people en route. Colin Thubron is also a prize-winning novelist. He lives in London

He has the mind of a scholar, uses language like a poet and has written a lovely mosaic of a book * Daily Telegraph * An unforgettable experience * Irish Times * Adventurous, observant, modest, poetical, Mr Thubron is a traveller after one's own heart * Sunday Times *