Red Nile

'Not long ago, in a small rubber boat more suited to a beach than the Nile, I floated downstream for ten kilometres, from my suburb to the city centre. I passed an island where, according to legend, Moses was left in his basket; a few kilometres farther downstream was the spot where Joseph and Mary landed after their flight to Egypt. The Nile won't let you get away from history because it's the source in more ways than one.' From his back garden Robert Twigger can see kingfishers swooping and crocodiles emerging from the grey-green expanse of the Nile.

Never ending, as wide as a lake in places, the Nile continually snakes its way north to the sea. It's a river steeped in history, and as Twigger searches for its source and probes its ancient, biblical and more contemporary existence, he uncovers the Nile's bloody, murderous past. In reality, the colour most associated with the churning waters of the Nile is blood red.

Whether tracking Cleopatra's great journey up the river by boat with Caesar, investigating the attacks of the Nile crocodile (the deadliest creature on earth), exploring the context of Agatha Christie's DEATH ON THE NILE or that of the assassination of President Sadat, Twigger's history of the river is both hugely atmospheric, definitive and incredibly violent.