The Boy in the Green Suit

A funny and beautifully written travel memoir about the charmed life of an innocent. Robert Hillman, 16, lives a Walter Mittyesque existence in rural Victoria, Australia. Disliked by his stepmother and misunderstood by his father, Bobby is bored and lonely. He fantasizes about finding an island paradise in the Indian Ocean inhabited by half-naked women. Inspired by his impossible dream, Bobby sets sail for Ceylon dressed in his best suit, carrying a cardboard suitcase full of books and a typewriter. He has no money, no return ticket and, seemingly, no concerns for his future. Dropping anchor not in Ceylon but Athens, he barters his way through Istanbul, Tehran and Kuwait, lurching from slums to brothels to an implausible job at a hotel in Pakistan and even a fleeting jail term.