Awarded the Stanford Dolman Lifetime Contribution to Travel Writing award in 2020, Paul Theroux set off from Victoria Station on a rainy April Saturday, believing that taking eight trains across Europe, Eastern Europe, the USSR, and Mongolia would be the easy and relaxing way to reach the borders of China. However, reality proved different. Theroux experienced a particularly strange and unexpected journey to China, which set the challenging tone for his epic annual rail adventure around this vast, mysterious country - a route that included almost all of its trains. 'Interspersed with humor and occasional grumbling... as Theroux painfully demonstrates, free travel in the Middle Kingdom is not for the faint-hearted or the weak of stomach.' Time.

Pages: 512, Dimensions: 12.8x12.8cm