Kamil Idris, a man proud of his nomad ancestry, survived child labouring in darkened factories, boyhood journeys to Cairo balanced on the top of trains, hazardous treks to Europe in his teens, capture and death threats from piratical Nile fishermen who thought he was an evil spirit or djinn, and even being stranded in the ferocious heat of the Nubian desert. In later life he was arrested and placed under house surveillance with his immediate family, because of his views on human rights and political reform. Inspired by a promise to Nelson Mandela to write his memoir, the book is a...