In 1918, Tahir Shah’s grandfather, The Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah, published the small volume of ‘poetry in prose’ – Eastern Moonbeams. The book marked not only the beginning of a glittering literary career, but the start of something far greater.

In the century since The Sirdar’s first publication, three generations of the same family have released hundreds of books – the bulk of them bridging West with East.

A Son of a Son comprises a selection of passages from the work of a grandfather, a father, and a son, written over a span of a hundred and one years.

Drawing on shared interests and inspirations, this extraordinary treasury encompasses literature, travel, philosophy, psychology, belle-lettres, and folklore.

As Tahir Shah says in his Foreword:

‘We are merely the newest branches of a tree, the roots of which stretch downward deep into the soil. As I sit here, writing books and thinking about the world, every word I type is connected to every word uttered by my father, my grandfather, and by the generations who came before us.’