A personal search for the real Morocco through its stories and storytellers by the acclaimed author of The Caliph's House.

Steeped in history, Morocco is a kingdom of rich textures, aromatic spices and magical beliefs - a vibrant bridge between the Orient and the Occident. And arriving there can be like stepping into the world of A Thousand and One Nights: a place ruled by ancient codes of honour, duty, chivalry, respect - values that have been handed down from generation to generation through the telling of stories. Long fascinated by this, Tahir Shah explores his adoptive country in a way that has never been done before: observing it from the inside out, through this ancient use of stories as teaching tools. Journeying from Casablanca to the tourist hot spot of Marrakech and the holy city of Fez, from Tangier in the north to Ouarzazate and on south into the Sahara, he goes in search of Morocco's stories and along the way meets a host of remarkable characters and is left wondering whether we in the West might yet be able to reconnect with the wisdom this tradition and these tales have to offer. Always entertaining and eloquent, Shah shines fresh and original light on this ancient, vital part of the world.