We hear of how Fawcett was seemingly immune to tropical diseases, and was able to keep going when others were exhausted. At the start of the 20th century he became famous for his near-legendary exploits. However, following the First World War it became harder to get funding, and he was competing against large expeditions with radios and planes. In 1926 he set of on an expedition, taking his son and a friend as assistants, to look for the lost city he was sure must be there. They never came back.

But that wasn't the end of the story. Now there wasn't just a lost city to search for, there was also the question of what happened to Fawcett's last expedition. Over the years more than a hundred people have set out to find out, and many of them never came back. Despite this, Grann decided to do just that, but he came back to tell the tale - and it turns out that the idea of a substantial civilisation in the Amazon hundreds of years ago may be more than just myth.

It's an amazing story, and I wondered at times whether it was really a work of fiction - but it isn't. It's the sort of book which will be enjoyed by almost everyone, and would make an ideal gift."; include "amazinf.php"; ?>