Kamyonistan

At one level, Robert Hackford's immensely readable novel is about the tough world of intercontinental truck drivers, treacherous mountain passes, desert storms and TIR truck stops in the Middle East, focussing on the 'Kamyonistan' community near Damascus in Syria. At another level, it's a tender, discreetly told story of two teenage boys, Ro and Nuri, one English, one Arab, who find themselves in a harsh moral environment tainted by fundamentalism. They look to each other for comfort, and discover firdaus - paradise. Few authors touch on such sensitive issues as these, and Kamyonistan is bound to appeal to a broad range of readers, especially youngsters. It is a feast for the casual reader, for the traveller and truck addict, and for the philosopher in search of kismet.