Blue is The Colour of Heaven: A Journey into Afghanistan

Afghanistan-remote, elusive, infamous since September 11, 2001 for most – is a land of wonder, beauty and contrasting strangeness for New Zealand writer Richard Loseby. This is the story of a journey that began in the mind of an eight-year-old boy obsessed with ‘looking’ for the Afghan’ and ended with a perilous dash to safety across more than seven hundred kilometers of mountain and desert. Avoiding land mines and bullets, he spent months travelling through Iraq and Iran negotiating a way into Afghanistan. joining forces with the war-weary Mujahedeen, he found unexpected allies and unforgettable friends. Although Loseby encountered danger on many occasions, he experienced a strange joy; daily life was full of small acts of kindness and many acts of hostility – ordinary exchanges charged with tension and drama. The result is a rare glimpse of the Afghani people themselves, people of warmth, generosity and humour. But this is not just a travel story, it is a story of tenacity of spirit and of promises made and kept.