`Could you show me a djinn? I asked. `Certainly, replied the Sufi. `But you would run away. n n n From the author of the Samuel Johnson prize shortlisted `The Return of a King, this is William Dalrymples captivating memoir of a year spent in Delhi, a city watched over and protected by the mischievous invisible djinns. Lodging with the beady-eyed Mrs Puri and encountering an extraordinary array of characters - from elusive eunuchs to the last remnants of the Raj - William Dalrymple comes to know the bewildering city intimately. n n n He pursues Delhis interlacing layers of history along narrow alleys and broad boulevards, brilliantly conveying its intoxicating mix of mysticism and mayhem. n n n `City of Djinns is an astonishing and sensitive portrait of a city, and confirms William Dalrymple as one of the most compelling explorers of Indias past and present. n