Timbuctoo is grand adventure story in the tradition of Dumas, Robert Louis Stephenson, or more recently David Ball [Empires of Sand] or Bartle Bull [Cafe on the Nile]. It differs from them in that it's based on what is essentially a true story. Robert Adams is a shipwrecked sailor, taken a slave and sent to Timbuktu in the early 1800s, as we now write it. Through a series of adventures he escapes and makes his way to high society London, where he recounts his tale to a mix of royalty and high society, many of them with designs on him, for good or ill. His account of Timbuktu, a violent and unimpressive city, contrasted with London's fixation on Timbuktu as a kind of El Dorado, a golden city. Timbuctoo is a fictionalized retelling of Adams' adventures in both Africa and London.
The book itself is a throwback to a different era of bookmaking. Fully 8 1/2 x 11 inches, hardbound with a bookmark ribbon embedded in the spine, with chapter summaries at the beginning of each chapter, with fold-out maps of 19th century London and elegant typography, the book is a joy to hold as well as read.
