Biography & memoir
ALEXANDRIA
THE QUEST FOR THE LOST CITY
EDMUND RICHARDSON
Bloomsbury, 352pp, £25
Reviewers thrilled to Edmund Richardson’s account of the extraordinary life of the 19th-century archaeologist, explorer and eccentric adventurer Charles Masson. In the Guardian, William Dalrymple called it ‘utterly brilliant’. It is, wrote Bijan Omrani in the Literary Review, ‘a tale of intrigue, espionage, blackmail, disguise, rebellion, treasure and the discovery of lost civilisations’. Thought the Spectator’s ASH Smyth, ‘I’ve not read anything this rollicking in years.’
The ‘quixotic and wildly colourful’ Masson was, observed James McConnachie in the Times, ‘One of the great early travellers in the subcontinent, he was also a pioneering archaeologist, ferocious critic of British imperialism and reluctant spy. The book’s publicists call him a real-life Indiana Jones; the likeness, for once, is not so far off.’ As Smyth put it: ‘Masson became the first westerner in centuries to see the Buddhas of Bamiyan; he deciphered the forgotten script of Kharosthi, unearthed the priceless Bimaran casket, and after five years of wandering in the wilderness discovered (spoiler alert: but this is on page 2) a lost city buried beneath the plains of Bagram.’ Not bad for an English soldier who deserted his regiment in 1827.
‘I’ve not read anything this rollicking in years’
Dalrymple was among many delighted that Masson’s adventures have been brought in from the margins of history. ‘Only now, with this superb biography, is his tale told in full for the first time. The result, evocatively written, impeccably researched and minutely footnoted, but with the pace and deftly woven plot complexity of a John le Carré novel, is a small masterpiece. It solves most of the mysteries of Masson’s story and deserves all the acclaim it will undoubtedly win.’
HIGH RISK
A TRUE STORY OF THE SAS, DRUGS AND OTHER BAD BEHAVIOUR
