In the 1960s, Margaret Laurence set out for Somaliland in Africa with her engineer husband in the hope that friendliness and a liberal outlook would suffice to bridge the differences between East and West. But she soon be gan to discover the complexity and difficulty in any attempted communication between peoples of widely different cultures, religions, and ways of looking at life. Living out in camp, the author gradually came to know something of the life of the no madic camel-herding Somalis, and to have a deep regard for these desert people who must struggle incessantly for survival in their barren land, but who manage also to produce many skilled orators, poets, and storytellers. Of all this, Mrs. Laurence writes delightfully; with humour, keen observation and humanity, with vivid descriptions of the country and the Somalis she met.