The Wandering Falcon

Dec 1, 2025 5:00 AM

Author:Jamil Ahmad

The Wandering Falcon is Jamil Ahmad's harsh and beautiful portrait of a tribal landscape.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN ASIAN PRIZE 2011

LONGLISTED FOR THE DSC SOUTH ASIAN PRIZE 2013

The boy known as Tor Baz - the black falcon - wanders the tribal landscape of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. He meets men who fight under different flags, and women who risk everything if they break their society's code of honour. Where has he come from, and where will fate take him?

'Striking. One of the finest collections of short stories to come out of south Asia in decades. Rarely has a writer shown greater empathy for its people, or brought such wisdom and knowledge to writing about a terrain largely inaccessible. The power and beauty of these stories are unparalleled in most fiction to come out of south Asia' Guardian

'Astonishing' Independent

'Remarkable. Written in a style that has about it the reverberant clarity of fables, but their intention is realist, uncovering a largely neglected world, and their cumulative effect is deeply moving' Sunday Times

'Its setting alone, in the cruel and punishing highlands, deserts and rocky altitudes where the borders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran meet, is worth the price of admission. Here is a book, to my knowledge the first in fiction, that gives an insider's account of the hard-bitten lives of the scores of tribes, collectively known as the Pawindas, or foot-people. The result is mesmerising' The Times

'Brilliantly evokes the harshness of nomadic life. Chilling' Metro

Jamil Ahmad was born in Jalandhar in 1933. As a member of the Civil Service of Pakistan, he served mainly in the Frontier Province and in Balochistan. He was Political Agent in Quetta, Chaghi, Khyber and Malakand and later, commissioner in Dera Ismail Khan and Swat. He was posted as minister in Pakistan's embassy in Kabul at a critical time, before and during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and his last assignment in the government was Chief Secretary Balochistan. He lives in Islamabad with his wife, Helga Ahmad.

Reviews

Brilliantly evokes the harshness of nomadic life. Chilling.

—— Metro

One of the finest collections of short stories to come out of south Asia in decades. Rarely has a writer shown greater empathy for its people, or brought such wisdom and knowledge to writing about a terrain largely inaccessible

—— Guardian

Authentic and poetic

—— The Times

Mesmerising

—— The Times

Superb. The work of a gifted story teller who has lived in the world of his fiction, and who offers his readers rare insight, wisdom and - above all - pleasure

—— Mohsin Hamid , -

A wonderful debut

—— The Economist

Tides of War is elegantly written, with passages of verve and...poignancy

—— Matthew Dennison , Independent

A perfectly sprung novel of the sort that owes more to Hilary Mantel and David Mitchell than Patrick O'Brian or Bernard Cornwall

—— Daily Telegraph

Love, betrayal, war and peace charge this powerful debut

—— Fanny Blake , Woman & Home

Tillyard writes in fluid, largely understated prose and her descriptions are wonderful

—— Lucy Atkins , Sunday Times

Tillyard is a fluent and attractive chronicler of detail and some of her imaginative liberties are ingenious

—— Jane Shilling , Sunday Telegraph

This saga of lives swept up in the Peninsular War recalls Georgette Heyer at her best...impossible to put down

—— Kate Saunders , Saga

A thrilling romance brought to life with exquisite detail

—— Prima

A prodigious talent able to combine meticulous research with novelistic devices...there is much to enjoy and admire

—— Norma Clarke , Times Literary Supplement

Fluently written and impeccably researched

—— The Lady

Gripping

—— Easy Living

It is time we stopped thinking of the historical novel as a genre, and an inferior one at that. If its ostensible subject matter means that it doesn't attempt to tell us how we live now, nevertheless a novel set back in time may, if it is good, say as much about what it is to be alive as one set in the next street or another country today. Tides of War is such a novel. It is diverting, but not a diversion

—— The Spectator

A well written, engaging read...beautifully observed

—— History Today

A vivid account of a couple of years in the Peninsula Campaign and a sympathetic portrait of those left behind

—— Joanna Hines , Literary Review

A delicious novel by an experienced author who captures the scientific atmosphere of the early 19th century with a devastating study of infidelity

—— Colin Gardiner , Oxford Times

The real life players of the Napoleonic era spring to life

—— i

Compelling

—— Big Issue

Highly assured and almost educational with its broad sweep of history

—— Jane Housham , Guardian

Tillyard’s achievement is in this original portray log the Regency era and its relevance to our own time

—— Philippa Williams , The Lady

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