Timbuktu has long been seen as a paradise to Westerners who had, for centuries, led perilous and mostly failed 'discovery' expeditions to the city. It's also legendarily known as the home of thousands of ancient manuscripts so when Al Qaeda surged across Mali in 2012, the eyes of the outside world were once again upon the fabled, now threatened city. A team of librarians and archivists began an unprecedented smuggling operation to save the history of an entire civilisation. English expertly interweaves these two suspenseful strands - the race to Timbuktu and the riveting undercover mission.
