A vibrant account, enthralling from start to finish. (La Croix, Paris); Investigative journalism with the talent of a storyteller. (Elle, Paris); The famous Geneva-based reporter has returned with a mountain of memories and sketches of one engaging character after another. (Tribune de Geneve, Geneva). This excellent piece of travel writing takes us on a bitter-sweet tour of Kazakhstan, providing us with a trove of fascinating stories about this former Soviet Socialist Republic's quest for identity since its independence in 1991. This troubled nation is the ninth largest in the world and yet...