The Nine Lives of Pakistan

First-rate reportage ... Captivating ... Walsh is a wonderful writer, with a gift for sketching an impression of a place, time and ambience with a few brief lines. He knows how to interweave travelogue with an account of the relentless tensions that always threaten to burst through each vignette in the book. What also shines through is the relish with which Walsh throws himself into the far corners of Pakistan, into crowds, celebrations and rites, with a drive born of fascination with the land and its people -- Julian Borger * Guardian * Walsh captures the heart of a country brutalised by years of military dictatorship, scarred by religious bigotry and crippled by conflicts that have left it prey to outside powers ... Walsh's instinctive sympathy for those committed to making the best of a bad lot shines through ... [Walsh] treats readers to some unforgettable profiles ... Rarely have revelations about Pakistan made for such good reading -- Farzana Shaikh * Literary Review * [A] thrilling, big-hearted book ... [Walsh] plunges into the messy country beyond and threads the nation's recent history into the biographies of some of the extraordinary people he meets ... If Walsh's guts take him places others have not reached, his prose - vigorous, cockeyed and clear - brings it home to the reader ... A richly observed study of how humans respond to the extraordinary pressures of a sometimes-choking society; empathetic, but hard-nosed and never veering into hagiography -- Memphis Barker * Telegraph * Clear-sighted and exhaustive, these dispatches paint a scrupulously layered portrait of a country that defies easy explanations * Irish Times * Declan Walsh describes, with intellectual power and cool elegance, a much-misunderstood country. All those interested in South Asia and its complex politics and culture should read it -- Pankaj Mishra, author of 'Age of Anger' 'An irresistible combination of storytelling panache and in-depth knowledge; Declan Walsh brings vividly to life characters and situations that illuminate some of the most significant phases of Pakistan's history -- Kamila Shamsie, Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction A wonderful book that sets a new benchmark for non-fiction about the complex palace of mirrors that is Pakistan ... Walsh has a rapier wit, a talent for skilfully sketched pen portraits and a sharp eye for tragedy, paradox and absurdity. With The Nine Lives of Pakistan he has produced a beautifully, lightly, fluently written book that is as profoundly nuanced as it is sharply perceptive -- William Dalrymple

Declan Walsh covered Pakistan for over a decade, for the Guardian and the New York Times. The Pakistani authorities expelled him in 2013, citing unspecified "undesirable activities". Walsh has reported from sub-Saharan Africa, Afghanistan, the United States and across the Middle East. He lives in Cairo.