Peaks on the Horizon: Two Journeys in Tibet

Carroll, an English secondary school teacher, author (On the Edge), and Tibetophile, visited Tibet on an escorted tour in 2009. This book, however, is not simply a travel memoir but also a biography of Lobsang, a Tibetan refugee who was forced to flee Lhasa as a child and returns to Tibet illegally as a young man. This is the story of two quests, with the Tibetan refugee's extraordinary account providing the fodder for the second journey. Along the way we learn about Tibetan history and culture. The country was once independent before its takeover by China in 1950. Carroll provides details about the atrocities inflicted on the Tibetans during this time and during the Cultural Revolution. The title provides glimpses of 21st-century Sinicized Tibet, the ubiquitous security forces, and the protests and underground movements organized by Tibetan youth. The narrative reads like fiction and Carroll builds a lot of suspense into it.