This is a brave, passionate and timely book. In it the author deftly weaves together history, accounts of his own travels and experience, and reflection. While largely told against the backdrop of Aden, it includes chapters on Israel/Palestine and Iran, where he and his wife have also lived and worked. It challenges some popular caricatures of Muslims and Islam, Iran, the Palestinians, Israel and Israelis. And whether the author is describing the plight of Somali refugees, being held up at gunpoint with friends on the road to Sanaa or being suddenly struck down by a life-threatening sickness on a remote island in the Indian Ocean , he tells the story with humour, warmth and hope.