Deeper Than Indigo: Tracing Thomas Machell, Forgotten Explorer - Softcover

Jenny Balfour-Paul

4.16

44 ratings by Goodreads

9781909339569: Deeper Than Indigo: Tracing Thomas Machell, Forgotten Explorer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1909339563 ISBN 13: 9781909339569

Publisher: Medina Publishing Ltd, 2017

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Jenny set out on her own voyage, tracing his footsteps across oceans and continents for ten years, on a quest to discover and understand this extraordinary character. In 2010 she travelled alone to India on the last cargo ship to accept passengers. The journey was as treacherous as it had been in Thomas's day and Jenny was advised to hide below deck and sleep with a knife by her bed and dollars sewn into her jacket. She narrowly escaped attack as naval ships intercepted a pirate 'mothership' spotted off the Yemeni coast. Jenny's journey ends as she finally discovers Thomas's overgrown grave when travelling with herdaughter after over 15 years of searching. Through a combination of the author's own memoirs, sketches and recollections of travels, entwined with Thomas Machell's tales and intricate drawings, Deeper than Indigo offers a unique insight into the social history of British colonialism at its height, from the East India Company to the Raj, while telling the story of a forgotten pioneer, whose startling diaries shed a surprisingly progressive light on European colonialism.

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Review:

"Travelogue, memoir, history, detective story, love story - her book is wholly compelling." --Michael Kerr, The Telegraph.

"A cracking tale." --Kevin Rushby, The Guardian.

"One of the most remarkable books I have ever read." --A. N. Wilson.

About the Author:

An intrepid traveller, Devon-based writer, artist, and international lecturer, Jenny Balfour Paul is author of two classic titles on indigo. Jenny is an Honorary Research Fellow at Exeter University; a Fellow, Councillor and Trustee of London's Royal Geographical Society, Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and New York's Explorers Club; and President of the UK's Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers. She is the world's leading expert on indigo and appeared at the Oxford Literary Festival and Sharjah International Literature Festival.

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