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  • Published: 16 September 2021
  • ISBN: 9781529191424
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: Audio Download
  • RRP: $26.99

The Amur River

Between Russia and China




In his 80th year, 'Britain's best living travel writer' journeys along the 3000-mile river that divides China and Russia (Sunday Times)

A dramatic and ambitious new journey for our greatest travel writer

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. For 1,100 miles it forms the tense border between Russia and China. Haunted by the memory of land-grabs and unequal treaties, this is the most densely fortified frontier on earth.

In his eightieth year, Colin Thubron takes a dramatic journey from the Amur's secret source to its giant mouth, covering almost 3,000 miles. Harassed by injury and by arrest from the local police, he makes his way along both the Russian and Chinese shores, starting out by Mongolian horse, then hitchhiking, sailing on poacher's sloops or travelling the Trans-Siberian Express. Having revived his Russian and Mandarin, he talks to everyone he meets, from Chinese traders to Russian fishermen, from monks to indigenous peoples. 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.

  • Published: 16 September 2021
  • ISBN: 9781529191424
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: Audio Download
  • RRP: $26.99

About the author

Colin Thubron

Colin Thubron is an acknowledged master of travel writing, and the winner of many prizes and awards. His first writing was about the Middle East - Damascus, Lebanon and Cyprus. In 1982 he travelled into the Soviet Union in an ancient Morris Marina, pursued by the KGB, a journey he recorded in Among the Russians. From these early experiences developed his classic travel books: Behind the Wall (winner of the Hawthornden Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Award), The Lost Heart of Asia, In Siberia (Prix Bouvier) and Shadow of the Silk Road. His most recent book is To a Mountain in Tibet (all available in Vintage). Colin Thubron was President of the Royal Society of Literature from 2010 to 2017.

Also by Colin Thubron

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Praise for The Amur River

The Amur River is said...to be his [Thubron's] very best book yet

Maggie Fergusson, Tablet, *Books to Look Out For 2021*

Enthralling... A captivating portrait of a remote region of the world

Kirkus, Starred Review

Breathtaking...a top-notch travelogue

Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

A fascinating read packed with curiosities and incident

The Times

Thubron's journey makes for a gripping read...with fascinating political insight

Sunday Times

A miraculous late-style masterpiece, the equal of any of [Thubron's] earlier works, which will cement his reputation as one of our greatest prose writers in any genre... The Amur River is not just a literary triumph in itself, it is also a demonstration of the continued power of great travel writing

William Dalrymple, Daily Telegraph

Excellent... Thubron's observations are perceptive and lightly delivered

Literary Review

[Thubron] summons both landscape and people with nuanced sensitivity... Here is a writer at the top of his game, one from whom those toiling on the lower slopes have much to learn

Spectator

Given Thubron's age, this may be his last major travel book: but he has chosen an important subject, a place where huge geopolitical forces meet and, like tectonic plates, push at each other. When the result could be an earthquake, it's worth paying attention

Isabel Lloyd, Tablet

More even than before, Thubron's prose rings with the knowledge of truths too deep for words

Nikhil Krishnan, Oldie

A mesmerising travel narrative

Charlotte Runcie, Daily Telegraph

The Amur River is never monotonous... Thubron never goes for vague atmospherics. He writes brilliantly about the region's wildlife and folklore, and there are moments of humour to leaven the atmosphere... Historical episodes enrich the travelogue at perfectly calibrated intervals... One can only marvel that he completed his journey and be thankful that this marvellous book came out of it

Jonathan Buckley, Times Literary Supplement

It's a powerful, relevant tale worthy of his best work

Wanderlust

[An] extraordinary new book... a mix of road, rail and boat takes him the 3,000 miles to the Pacific, with wonderful stories at every turn

James Walton, Reader's Digest

With so much uncertainty around travel, it is a relief and a joy to dive into a genuine old-school adventure, especially with a guide like Colin Thubron

Tom Robbins, Financial Times, *Books of the Year*

A miraculous late-style masterpiece, the equal of any of his earlier works, which will cement his reputation as one of our greatest prose writers in any genre

William Dalrymple, Spectator, *Books of the Year*

Thubron is regularly hailed as our greatest living travel writer, and in a field where the quality of writing is already high, his prose is the most poetic of all. From the very first sentence you know that you are in the hands of a great master. He conveys the solitude and bleak beauty of the east Siberian taiga along the Amur with compelling simplicity...The Amur River is an unforgettable classic of the genre

Anthony Beevor, Spectator, *Books of the Year*

A triumph of writing, horsemanship and sheer grit

Daily Telegraph, *Books of the Year*

In The Amur River, Thubron shows an unyielding willingness to listen to those he meets and attempt to understand their worlds. The result is a captivating tale, told with remarkable grit and resourcefulness, down by a very big, half-forgotten river

Critic

The Amur River it's not just an excellent read, it will inspire your ambition as a travel writer

Patrick Forsyth, Writing Magazine

Thubron writes with sensitivity and compassion about both peoples trying to make a go of it in this cold, inhospitable land. Beautiful

Marcus Tanner, Tablet, *Books of the Year*

A miraculous late-style masterpiece, the equal of any of his earlier works, that will cement his reputation as one of our greatest prose writers in any genre

William Dalrymple, The Times