The reader gets the sense that the author is driven by an <b>unquenchable </b>curiosity about a country he loves. Dalrymple never mocks his subjects. Indeed, his prose is often tinged with tenderness and a sense of longing. In dashes of <b>brilliance</b>, Dalrymple’s work reveals an India still rich in religious experience, its spiritual quest – or rather, quests – still very much part of the warp and weft of daily life. Amid all the excitement about economic growth, an older India endures

- Sadanand Dhume, Wall Street Journal

At its best travel writing beats fiction, firing the imagination with tales of foreign peoples drawn close by our common humanity . . . This is <b>travel writing at its best</b>. I hope it sparks a revival

- Ruaridh Nicoll, Observer

<i>Nine Lives</i> remains oddly <b>gripping, and often very moving</b>, in its first-person accounts of spiritually-minded people that Dalrymple meets on his travels across the subcontinent

- Pankaj Mishra, The National

For those who enjoyed Dalrymple’s earlier travel adventures, this latest book is written with the same verve and sense of immediacy . .<b> </b>. In a deft<b> </b>way he shows how the tensions, dilemmas and changes in the lives of these individuals illustrate the vast transformation of Indian society . . . <b>Vibrant and engaging</b>, Dalrymple paints a compelling portrait of this complex sprawling giant of a country at a time of momentous change

- Peter Kirkwood, The Australian

His characteristic <b>wit and sympathy</b> are fully evident in the interviews he has conducted . . . Beautifully illustrates the relationship between tradition and modernity in India

Spectator

A <b>fascinating </b>text . . . It is an index of Dalrymple’s ability as a writer and his <b>complex </b>immersion in Indian cultures that he deftly avoids any hint of “Orientalism” . . . Dalrymple succeeds in juxtaposing the sacred and the secular without diverting the captivating flow of his prose. This is <b>a rich book</b>, teeming with fascinating characters and places worth visiting; it is a travel book that takes the reader not only across the wide expanse of the Indian subcontinent but also into <b>intriguing </b>aspects of India’s past and present

- Tabish Khair,

Dalrymple’s storytelling skills and eye for the bizarre make this a <b>fascinating and entertaining</b> window onto spiritual India

- Anthony Sattin, Sunday Times, Books of the Year

A travel writer of <b>huge talent</b>, even <b>genius</b>

Outlook

A <b>fast-paced</b> book, moving from the perspective of a Jain nun contemplating the slow and voluntary relinquishing of her life, to the dilemma of the Dalit theyyam who shuttles between his job as a prison warden to his life as a man in the grip of religious ecstasy. These are <b>compelling </b>contemporary stories, and Dalrymple seems to be channelling a modern-day avatar of Kipling

Business Standard

In <i>Nine Lives</i> the author is on the road again, but deliberately takes a back seat, allowing his characters to tell their own <b>spellbinding</b> stories. Dalrymple’s <b>exhaustive research and deep feeling</b> for Indian culture and ancient faiths mean he writes with clarity, erudition and engagement. With his guidance and context, each story reads like a rare insight into a multifarious and often impenetrable culture. <i>Nine Lives</i> is India at its most pure but also its most fragile. Dalrymple’s stories always strive for a higher purpose than simply recounting adventures in the manner of so much contemporary travel writing. In <i>Nine Lives</i>, that purpose is to record and conserve these unique, fantastical histories, before they disappear forever

- Kendall Hill, Sydney Morning Herald

Dalrymple is widely read and admired, and Nine Lives is both <b>moving and radiant: an austere, piercing, and exciting book</b> on nine <b>astonishing</b> religious lives

- Pradeep Sebastian, The Hindu