A Ride to Khiva

Mission Impossible - the Central Asian city of Khiva, closed to Europeans by the Russians and a possible springboard for an invasion of India. The man to undertake it - Captain Fred Burnaby, six foot four in his socks, a brilliant horseman, a crack shot and strong as an ox, with eight languages under his belt. In the winter of 1875, braving frostbite and snowdrifts and unbeknown to his army superiors who would have forbidden it, he set out across Central Asia to investigate the latest secret Russian moves in the Great Game. His delight in a life of risk and adventure still burns through the pages of these youthful travels, as does his spontaneous affection for the Cossack troopers and the Tartar, Khirgiz and Turkoman tribesmen he encountered on his way to meet the Khan of Khiva. Once there, Burnaby was immediately ordered home by an alarmed government. And in London, he sat down and wrote this bestselling account of his adventures.

Frederick Burnaby was a British army officer, who travelled across Europe and Central Asia, mastered the art of ballooning, spoke a number of foreign languages fluently, stood for parliament twice, published several books, and helped launch the satirical magazine Vanity Fair. He died fighting in the Sudan in 1885.