Is a story worth dying for? How do you harden yourself against suffering? How far would you go in pursuit of a good story? After all, ‘bad news is news’. How do you move from one war zone to another, documenting tragedy after tragedy without burning out? This frank, personal account of life as a foreign correspondent-a ‘reluctant messenger’-comes to us from ABC reporter/producer Jonathan Harley, South Asia correspondent from 1988 to 2002. ‘Too much peace will mean too few stories.’ No fear of that. From his base in New Delhi, Harley travels to Kashmir, Nepal, Gujarat, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. He meets the Taliban and files home about wars, refugees, madrassas (Koranic schools), a devastating earthquake and September 11. It is fascinating to view these stories through his eyes, as he is ‘bearing witness’ and sending news home to us. ‘This job is heaven. This job is hell’. A long-distance love story, a journey of personal growth and a story about forming attachments to other lands and peoples, this is a rollercoaster ride of a book. It is gripping, eye-opening, moving, harrowing, funny and tragic. You will laugh out loud and shed tears. News fiends will love it.

Paula Grunseit is the library manager at SBS Radio, Sydney

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