With two extraordinary books, THE EMPEROR'S LAST LAND and DAISY BATES IN THE DESERT, Julia Blackburn has pushed the boundaries of non-fiction as far as they will go. IN THE BOOK OF COLOUR she crosses for the first time into fiction and the result is astonishing- a short visionary novel of almost awesome power, a book that changes your view of the world. THE BOOK OF COLOUR is a journey around Julia Blackburn's father and grandfather, set largely in Mauritius. It is a book about childhood, about madness, about the fear of miscegenation - and about a pig. It establishes Julia Blackburn as the most original English writer since Chatwin.