A 10th-century Chinese mandarin travels forward in time, and writes letters home reporting on the strange land of 'Zha-ma-ni' in which he is surrounded by giants with big noses, and frightened by the iron carriages called 'mo-tao-kas'. We gradually realise that he is in present-day Munich, and the hapless voyager's encounters with modern life and love, make delightful reading." Scotland on Sunday

Two million copies of the German edition have been sold which belies the claims that the Germans do not have a sense of humour and do not like satire.