North Korea Journal

By Michael Palin (Penguin)

In May 2018 the much-loved Palin – part of the UK’s Monty Python comedy troupe – spent two weeks inside the secretive Democratic People’s Republic of Korea making a TV documentary.

This book, a diary of the visit, recounts not only what he saw of the peasant economy but his interactions with locals and officialdom, and includes musings about a place wholly unlike anywhere the muchtravelled Palin has previously traipsed.

If the book wasn’t written with Palin’s trademark warmth and wit, this glimpse of life on the inside of an authoritarian regime would be disappointing, no matter how keen its observations. Fortunately, Palin rarely disappoints.