Beautifully written by a devilishly handsome (ex-model) writer. Curious? We most certainly were.

When Daniel Metcalfe (fluent in English, Russian, Persian, Swedish and Portuguese with a degree from Oxford) crossed the border between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and was confronted by hostile Uzbeki police, it was his playing Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” on the ukulele that got him through a potential kerfuffle.

But that’s not all. For not only is this an entertaining and easy read about Metcalfe’s trip through the Stans, while he explored his fascination with the silk road (with nothing but a backpack and mandolin), but it also happens to be and extremely enlightening story about the plight of six ethnic communities whose existence and culture are about to be eradicated.

Darlings, steppe to it pronto!