In a parallel world of Story the River Nile is red, the colour of blood, passion and fertile silt. This book is a summer indundation of spellbinding stories, told by polymath, explorer and writer of beautiful lucid prose, Robert Twigger. Some of it I read aloud to my husband and his verdict included the words `superb' and `outstanding.'
The distance covered is vast, on scales of both time and space. The physical Nile may have one of its sources in the Mountains of the Moon, where giant lobelias have flower spikes over fifteen feet long; but the Red Nile has a tributary in the land of the Iraquois Indians. In time it stretches from when the great river cascaded six miles down into… Read more
It is little wonder that this, the book which tells of Tahir Shah's time in India, learning conjuring and illusion from Hakim Feroze - a callous, sadistic, obsessed magician with unnerving occult powers - is his most popular work of travel.
Before initiating him into the secrets of Indian magic, Feroze instils in his apprentice the capacity to endure and insists he becomes a polymath. As if foreseeing the young man's future life and work, he provides exactly the preparation needed. This includes striving for perfection and an extraordinary attention to detail. Then, after his pupil has practised illusions and can perform them to his satisfaction, he… Read more
It is little wonder that this, the book which tells of Tahir Shah's time in India, learning conjuring and illusion from Hakim Feroze - a callous, sadistic, obsessed magician with unnerving occult powers - is his most popular work of travel.
Before initiating him into the secrets of Indian magic, Feroze instils in his apprentice the capacity to endure and insists he becomes a polymath. As if foreseeing the young man's future life and work, he provides exactly the preparation needed. This includes striving for perfection and an extraordinary attention to detail. Then, after his pupil has practised illusions and can perform them to his satisfaction, he prescribes a search for… Read more
