Among Muslims

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Read about real people in Pakistan - Rated
The bok starts with several Afghani men sitting in the local high street. What do they want? Why are they here? Are they ... terrorists? No one wants to talk to them, but Kathleen Jamie. She invites them around for tea. They say they are on a peace march to promote inter cultural understanding, which they started in the summer of 2001. Now they feel the hostility arising from post 11th september Britain.

Kathleen knows she has to be a good host and offer everything she can to make them comfortable. After all, she remembers her travels in Pakistan, where taking care of your guest is paramount. She recalls her encounters there, with every day lives passing by. She does not attempt to romanticise their difficult lives with all the hardships of rural agricultural society, but she remains sympathetic and open.

The book can become a little verbose, with Jamie blathering on about the local landscape, but many of the stories here are touching and very human. She makes a real effort to treat the people of that other land as human beings, no more and no less. It is delightful how she visits the same family several times over a decade, to see how their lives have changed. Definitely recommended.

Lyrical, sparse and more relevant than ever - Rated
Most of Among Muslims was first published nearly 10 years ago as an account of Jamie's time travelling in the northern areas of Pakistan. Following the events of Septemeber 11 she has revisted some of the places and people from her first travels.

The book opens with the story of some Pakistani men visiting the small Fife town where she lives on a peace walk. I found the description of the men and their mission extremely moving. In all of the book the writing is wonderful, as you would expect from a poet - Jamie does not overload with detail yet conjures up the sights and sounds (and feelings, smells, bumpiness etc) with ease. But this is not simply a travelogue. As the last section in particular illustrates, it poses questions about the nature of freedom (and in particular, the freedom of women), society, tourism and its impact and the future development of such regions. The contrast of the treatment that Jamie (mostly) received in Pakistan compared with the reaction of her small town to the peace march is also startling.

In all a wonderfull read which manages to pose the reader some big questions without detracting from the lightless and delf touch of the descriptions.