The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan

Meet Hajji Baba, a barber's son in 19th-century Ispahan who dreams of adventure beyond his father's shop. When he finally leaves home to serve a merchant, his journey takes a dark turn: caravan attacked by Turcoman bandits, and our hapless hero finds himself a prisoner. But don't mistake him for innocent. Hajji Baba is a schemer, a liar, and a survivor whose moral flexibility propels him through encounters with princes, merchants, dervishes, and thieves across Persia. James Justinian Morier, drawing on his years as a British diplomat at the Qajar court, wrote this picaresque tale as sharp social satire: a bemused Westerner's portrait of Persian society in all its absurdity, corruption, and color. The novel crackles with earthy humor and insider observation, whether depicting the rituals of shaving or the intricacies of courtly intrigue. It's a window into how early 19th-century Britain imagined the East: exotic, irrational, and endlessly entertaining. The book that inspired countless later Oriental adventures, for better or worse.