William Dalrymple is a Scottish author, long based in India, whose travel and historical accounts principly of India have won him international acclaim. Based now in Delhi, his has become the voice of post British Raj writing on India, and his new book does not disappoint. Taking a chapter each to illustrate a common theme, the books PR sums up the content nicely: "Nine people, nine lives. Each one taking a different religious path, each one an unforgettable story. Exquisite and mesmerizing, and told with an almost biblical simplicity, William Dalrymple’s first travel book in a decade explores how traditional forms of religious life in South Asia have been transformed in the vortex of the region’s rapid change. Nine Lives is a distillation of twenty-five years of exploring India and writing about its religious traditions, taking you deep into worlds that you would never have imagined even existed." It is indeed an excellent read, and for anyone considering a travel trip to India, this will get the juices following.