PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
David Eimer is the author of the critically acclaimed The Emperor Far Away: Travels at the Edge of China. He is a former China correspondent for the Sunday Telegraph and was subsequently the South-East Asia correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, as well as a columnist and feature writer for the South China Morning Post. Eimer is currently based in Yangon.
Eimer's journey takes him to all these trouble spots, including many not reported in the West. It's a remarkable achievement because most are off limits to tourists and especially westerners ... The result of Eimer's intrepid endeavours is a revelatory and moving book, enriched by vivid descriptive colour and an incredible cast of characters -- James Holland * The Times * [Eimer] has served up something refreshingly different: an old-fashioned travelogue, and an excellent one at that ... A rich and enjoyable mix of history, amateur psychology and personal reflection, with a few dabs of investigative journalism too ... [Eimer's] sharp, always well-informed observations help to create a persuasive portrait of a country that remains beguilingly oblivious to Western notions of progress -- Richard Crockett * Literary Review * Eimer's powerful account reveals a country plundered and brutalised during the colonial era and decades of autocratic rule, while struggling to come to terms with the reality of its present ethnic and religious diversity -- PD Smith * Guardian * [Eimer] proves to be an able guide, and A Savage Dreamland explores the beauty but also the troubling realities of Myanmar, offering a vivid portrait of a country struggling to overcome its past, but where things may get worse before they get better -- Kit Gillet * South China Morning Post * [Eimer] is one of the best travel writers to focus on politics and current affairs ... During his researches, he interviewed a large cross-section of Burmese and visited areas normally off-limits, including war zones ... Eimer's wide-ranging portrait of a country in straits as dire as they're prolonged is both fascinating and troubling * Spectator * Explains wonderfully well why Burma today is both compelling and combustible ... [Eimer's] book is a good primer on history, culture and modern-day politics, and on the power wielded by the Buddhist hierarchy ... If Orwell could read A Savage Dreamland, he would be impressed by this choral-voiced account of a country where so many, for so long, have been silenced -- Michael Kerr * Daily Telegraph * [Eimer] is an intrepid reporter ... He goes to places where tourists, and many journalists, fear to tread ... Eimer's book takes readers closer to his fascinating subject * Economist * A luminous journey into the haunted, heartbreaking, dark fringes of the betrayed, golden land -- Rory MacLean Eimer's informed peregrinations make A Savage Dreamland a fascinating and revelatory read * Irish Times * Praise for The Emperor Far Away: Travels at the Edge of China * - * Eimer has forged genuinely new ground as he recounts his travels to China's furthest corners ... A fascinating picture of a part of the country rarely examined in the many books on China's go-go economy and fast-changing society * Daily Telegraph * Eimer has colourful material ... A well-written adventure in far-flung places that the world needs to know more about if it is to understand China. * The Times * Eimer is a meticulous, fair-minded and empathetic observer, he takes interest in people of all kinds and from all walks of life, and is adventurous and curious enough to go off the beaten track -- Peter Gordon * Asian Review of Books * A chilling travelogue through modern Burma intertwined with helpful historical context ... Riveting -- Tom Freston * Airmail * Essential reading for anyone with an interest in Myanmar * Mekong Review *
