Geography of Heaven: Travels to the Hereafter
“An astonishing book. It tells of the determination of love, its capacity to transcend and earth, its refusal to stop before the membrane between the lovers is breached and truth – real, felt, undeniable, unmanufactured truth – emerges.” Claire Gilbert “An epic of travel and a rich testament to an enduring love.” Colin Thubron “A […]
Stalin’s Nose: Across the Face of Europe
‘The most extraordinary debut in travel writing since “In Patagonia”. A dark, sardonic and brilliant book which grows in stature with every page.’ – William Dalrymple ‘a surreal masterpiece’ – Colin Thubron ‘A thing of beauty’ – Jan Morris ‘Crazy, charming, a delight’ – John le Carré A Tamworth pig, a coffin, two aunts, a battered Trabant and the […]
Pravda Ha Ha: Truth, Lies and the End of Europe
‘A gem of a book, informative, companionable, sometimes funny, and wholly original. MacLean must surely be the outstanding, and most indefatigable, traveller-writer of our time.’ — John le Carré ‘This is a tremendous thing that MacLean is creating; a new kind of history, in several dimensions and innumerable moods, that adds up to — across the […]
Berlin: Imagine a City
‘Berlin is the most extraordinary work of history I’ve ever read. To call it history is, in fact, reductive. There’s some historical analysis, quite a lot of fiction, some philosophizing, lashings of wit and a fair dose of invective. It’s a work of imagination, reflection, reverence, perplexity and criticism that reveals as much about the […]
Under the Dragon: A Journey through Burma
‘I cannot imagine a better book on the beauty and terror of Burma. Read it. Read it. Read it.’ – Fergal Keane ‘Shines with an almost unbearable poignancy…a beautiful insight into this unhappy land.’ – Colin Thubron, The Times ‘It will make you cry and it will give you hope. It travels through modern decayed Rangoon, into […]
Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to India
‘Utterly absorbing; if you read only one travel book this year, this should be it.’ – Alexander Frater ‘A magic journey — lyrical, sympathetic but gently sceptical — perfectly suits Maclean’s many gifts. He resurrects the hippie trail in all its zany idealism.’ – Colin Thubron ‘The magical beauty of of MacLean’s prose and the vividness of […]
Falling for Icarus: A Journey Among the Cretans
‘The heart-warming evocation of one man’s loving obsession: lyrical, funny, compassionate’ – Colin Thubron ‘an extraordinary work, curious and entertaining, tantilizing, often moving and above all entirely original — like everything he writes, it’s in a genre of its own’ – Jan Morris ‘An intimate geography of the author’s own heart and a masterly observation of the […]
In North Korea: Lives and Lies in the State of Truth
At dawn the curtain rises on an empty stage. Actors stand poised in the dark. Dancers and singers wait in the wings for their cue. Musicians hold their instruments to their lips and bodies, at the ready, ever ready for the nod of the director, waiting for the show to begin. In North Korea every […]
Missing Lives
Thirty-five years ago, Yugoslavia died, its federation of republics consuming themselves in fires of ethnic and religious hatred. In a decade of successive conflicts, acts of barbarism unseen in Europe since the Second World War were committed in horrendous numbers. As many as 140,000 people were killed, a quarter of whom simply vanished. In most […]
The Oatmeal Ark: From the Scottish Isles to a Promised Land
‘One of the most original and innovative travel books for years.’ – Alexander Frater, Observer ‘A fabulous adventure story, wise, witty and never self-indulgent, as if Jack London had – in a fit of absent-mindedness – joined forces with Jane Austen.’ – Alberto Manguel ‘a truly astonishing performance’ – Jan Morris ‘Such a book as this rather marvellously […]