Mark Kurlansky: The White Man in the Tree and other stories

Kurlansky's previous books, in particular The Basque History of the World and Cod, are wonderful narratives in which history becomes as readable as fiction. Here, he forays into fiction and proves that his own imagined stories are as full of real life as his histories.

A journalist who has spent several years in the Caribbean, he understands the worlds that his characters inhabit: the colours, smells and dangers of Haiti; the small ambitions and rivalries of those people living within economies where yet another devaluation is imminent. These slightly disturbing yet compellingly enjoyable stories are about cultural misunderstanding and also about the misunderstanding between men and women, rich and poor - even about the terrible consequences of having no insight into one's own self.

Jonathan Cape

$47.95