The Amur River

In his eightieth year, Colin Thubron takes a dramatic and often treacherous journey from the Amur's secret source to its giant mouth, covering almost 3,000 miles.

'Thubron on top form. Richly detailed, immaculately written and full of insights and encounters that bring a complex corner of the world to life' MICHAEL PALIN

Rising in the Mongolian mountains and flowing through Siberia to the Pacific, the Amur River forms the tense border between Russia and China. This is the most densely fortified frontier on Earth.

Harassed by injury and by arrest from the local police, Thubron makes his way along both the Russian and Chinese shores. By the time he reaches the river's desolate end, a whole, pivotal world has come alive.

'A masterpiece' William Dalrymple

'Unforgettable' Antony Beevor

'An epic journey along a frozen, fraught frontier... Fascinating' The Times

'This book is a triumph' Daily Telegraph

Winner of the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award 2022

Auteur

Colin Thubron

Texte du rabat

'Thubron on top form. Richly detailed, immaculately written and full of insights and encounters that bring a complex corner of the world to life' Michael Palin

As serialised on BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week
A FINANCIAL TIMES, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH AND SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR
ONE OF *THE DAILY TELEGRAPH*'S BEST 75 BOOKS OF 2021

A dramatic and ambitious new journey from our greatest travel writer that makes a perfect gift this Christmas.

The Amur River is almost unknown. Yet it is the tenth longest river in the world, rising in the Mongolian mountains and flowing through Siberia to the Pacific to form the tense, highly fortified border between Russia and China.

In his eightieth year, Colin Thubron takes a dramatic 3,000-mile long journey from the Amur's secret source to its giant mouth. Harassed by injury and by arrest from the local police, he makes his way along both the Russian and Chinese shores on horseback, on foot, by boat and via the Trans-Siberian Railway, talking to everyone he meets. By the time he reaches the river's desolate end, where Russia's nineteenth-century imperial dream petered out, a whole, pivotal world has come alive.

The Amur River is a shining masterpiece by the acknowledged laureate of travel writing, an urgent lesson in history and the culmination of an astonishing career.

'Magnificent... Colin Thubron's observations on the relationship between Russia and China are full of insight, from which the world can benefit as it faces the challenges of the twenty-first century' Jung Chang