This is not a travelogue, or a guide book, or even a retelling of ancient folklore. It is, however, a little bit of all three. It is a conversation with two well informed people who have travelled, and questioned, and analysed. They are convinced that every legend, every custom has grown out of a hard core of fact, a historical event whose impact was so great that it was branded into the memory of the community. It then became encased in multiple layers of myth. In The Alluring North, while describing their experiences in their gently evocative style, Hugh and Colleen Gantzer also uncover many fascinating gems of other, enduring, realities that glitter within ‘intriguing India’.