Afghanistanremote, elusive, infamous since September 11, 2001 for mostis a land of wonder, beauty and contrasting strangeness for New Zealand writer Richard Loseby. This is the story of a journey that began in the mind of an eight-year-old boy obsessed with looking for the Afghan and ended with a perilous dash to safety across more than seven hundred kilometres of mountain and desert. Avoiding land mines and bullets, he spent months traveling through Iraq and Iran negotiating a way into Afghanistan The result is a rare glimpse of the Afghani people themselves, people of warmth, generosity and humour. But this is not just a travel story, it is a story of tenacity of spirit and of promises made and kept.