At the moment I am fascinated by Mongolia so reading online reviews and surfing the web I thought this book to be a must. It actually is! Louisa Waugh is a modern Margaret Mead, she tries living in this remote mongolian village participating to the life, but without interfering and without judging, and when that happens she underlines and regrets it. Can this book be called a work of modern anthropology? It goes near to it. I would have liked a more detailed description of the population and the ethnic differences between the Kazakhs and the Tuvans, but that would have made this book a textbook of social studies, which it really doesn't want to be. The simplicity and modesty of this unusual life experience is touching. The author talks about herself (very little)and mostly about the other women she meets. The Prize the book won is extremely appropriate because the spirit of the place is really the book's main character.