The novel is inspired by the life and works of Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890), secret agent, the first Briton to perform the Hajj to Mecca, translator of the Kama Sutra and One Thousand and One Nights, researcher of the sources of the Nile and the life structure of American Mormons. The action follows in detail behind the biography of his youth, and sometimes departs greatly from the extant evidence, contemplating the fascinating life story of the main character - “an exemplary Briton of the late 19th century”, with the special elegance of an intelligence officer, hero-lover and “lover of truth” who bore the white man’s burden through the jungles of India, the sands of Arabia and the wilds of Africa. This work, awarded the Leipzig Book Fair Prize (2007), is an individual approach to the mystery of the Other, driven by the desire not even to solve it, but to enrich oneself through it.