In Ethiopia with a Mule - Couverture souple

One of the supreme virtues of Dervla Murphy as a travel writer is that she is human. She needs her drink; she craves her cigarettes; she is capable of losing her temper; she smuggles things through customs. A more virtuous figure would be far less endearing. (Daily Telegraph)

Dervla Murphy must be top of the intrepid class: conventional travel writers seem impossibly pallid by contrast. (Financial Times)

An admirable woman ... She has a romantic soul and a keen eye (Times Literary Supplement)

Dervla Murphy's credentials are more than a brave heart and strong calf muscles ... the fruit of these mature wanderings for my money puts her among the select travel writers of the last two decades. (Observer)

Murphy's observation is acute, her self-effacement is disarming (Sunday Times)

Dervla Murphy set out with her pack-mule, Jock, on a hazardous trek through Ethiopia's remote and hostile regions. Inspired by stories of Prester John and the Queen of Sheba, she hoped to find there beauty, danger, solitude and mystery. Instead she encountered rough terrain, exhaustion, illness and the disorder of the Ethiopians' domestic affairs - all of which she conquered with endurance and good humour.

Despite being robbed three times, Dervla Murphy found the Ethiopian highlanders were unusually hospitable. Out of her dependence on them and her increasing familliarity with their way of life grew a close and warm understanding. On reaching Addis Ababa, she concluded that affection for Ethiopia's peoples was the richest reward of her journey.