"The cast reads like something out of The Canterbury Tales. Brings to life the history and also the great variety of people, languages, religions, interests, and behaviors along the most remarkable of migratory routes."--Sunday Times "A wonderful find. This book is a treasure."--South China Morning Post "A trailblazer, vividly recreating the life and times of this great cultural highway."--The Scotsman "Wonderfully written and highly evocative. Armchair travelers and historians will certainly enjoy reading it."--Journal of Asian Studies "Enlightening. Whitfield's skillfully crafted tales take readers on a journey back to the heyday of the Silk Road and enable them to relive its people's unusual existence."--Bloomsbury Review "Imaginative reconstruction of a distant time and place is this book's great strength. It's both enjoyable and very useful for anyone teaching or learning about the region."--David Christian, Journal of World History "Susan Whitfield infuses her narrative with delightfully elaborate descriptions embracing an amazing plethora of topics. Her tales provide intimate historical matters well beyond the Chinese traditional accounts."--Comparative Civilizations Review