Shortlisted, New Brunswick Book Award (Non-Fiction)
From acclaimed author Mark Anthony Jarman comes
Touch Anywhere to Begin
, his first book of travel writing since the publication of the critically acclaimed
Ireland's Eye
in 2002.
In 18 unusual, head-spinning essays, Jarman can drift through Venice amid the revelry of carnival and the arrival of the impending pandemic or visit a private club along Shanghai's Huangpu River to be serenaded by a band of retired People's Liberation Army singers. In "Panthers and Gods Prowl a Palace of Sin," an invitation to the Kala Ghoda Festival in Mumbai forges a connection with a jetlagged pair of Arctic throat singers and a doctor fascinated by Canada. In "Jesus on the Mainline," an extended hospitalization beside the intubated victim of a drunk-driving accident reveals a difficult family drama.
And this, of course, is only the beginning. Masterfully written,
penetrates the impressionistic moments and intimacies of travel to reveal character and place like none other.