Overview

In January 2000, two Ambassador taxis twisted their way up the narrow road leading towards Dharamsala in the Himalayan foothills of northern India - the home-in-exile of the Dalai Lama. In one taxi was a fourteen-year-old boy, the 17th Karmapa, one of the most important figures in Tibetan Buddhism. The boy's arrival in Dharamsala was the culmination of an extraordinary escape which had brought him 900 miles across the Himalayas, in conditions of high danger, from the monastery in Tibet where he had lived since he was seven years old. Fascinated by this charismatic young figure, Mick Brown travelled to Dharamsala to meet him, and found himself drawn into the labyrinthine - not to say surreal - web of intrigue surrounding the 17th Karmapa's recognition and young life.

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Reviews

'Brown manages to make his book both informative and fast paced ... A fascinating read' Observer 'An extraordinary story ... his narrative is crisp, dramatic and scrupulously even-handed ... succeeds both as a riveting piece of detective work and as something far more resonant: an account of how Brown's spiritual yearnings underwent a hefty buffeting yet continue to nourish him and drive him on' Sunday Telegraph 'An astonishing saga of unholy intrigue and arcane back-stabbing ... Brown affords us regular glimpses of Buddhism's deeper, and abiding, humanism' Independent 'What he uncovers is like a passage from our own medieval history - a bitter war of succession complete with scheming regent, allegations of murder and a young pretender' Daily Mail

'Brown manages to make his book both informative and fast paced A fascinating read' Observer 'An extraordinary story his narrative is crisp, dramatic and scrupulously even-handed succeeds both as a riveting piece of detective work and as something far more resonant: an account of how Brown's spiritual yearnings underwent a hefty buffeting yet continue to nourish him and drive him on' Sunday Telegraph 'An astonishing saga of unholy intrigue and arcane back-stabbing Brown affords us regular glimpses of Buddhism's deeper, and abiding, humanism' Independent 'What he uncovers is like a passage from our own medieval history - a bitter war of succession complete with scheming regent, allegations of murder and a young pretender' Daily Mail

Author Information

Mick Brown is the author of four previous books. He is currently writing a biography of Phil Spector for Bloomsbury. Born in London, he is a journalist and broadcaster.

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