This is the autobiography of the young Pakistani writer who is well-known as a poet.While relating his narrative to the theme of rootlessness,Zulfikar Ghose provides absorbing accounts of his childhood on the Indian sub-continent,his frustrations at a school in Chelsea and his love affairs. The vicissitudes of his family are tenderly portrayed,and his impassioned descriptions of his travels in India are unforgettable.

In talking about himself,he makes modern man-the eternal outsider-his subject.This is a literary work of a high order which will give pleasure both to those who enjoy reading a dramatic unfolding of events and to those who delight in the excellence of language.