This is a biographical study of Arthur Rimbaud's lost years, the years after he turned his back on poetry, fame and France, for a life of wandering and obscurity in the wilds of East Africa. Charles Nicholl pieces together the story of Rimbaud's life as a trader, explorer and gun-runner in Africa. We follow his trail across the Somali desert, through the backstreets of Djibouti, and into the highlands of Ethiopia. We glimpse him with his Abyssinian mistress in Aden, walking the souks of Cairo with 20 pounds of gold around his waist, and crossing the desert with a camel-train of Remington rifles. The journey leads also into the strange psychological terrain of Rimbaud's desire to escape.