Book Review: Hispanic fantasy. Ghost Train Through the Andes: on my grandfather’s trail in Chile and Bolivia

“It is a mark of a great travel book if, by about page 20, you feel the urge to drop everything and catch the next plane out of Heathrow. In Ghost Train Through the Andes, Michael Jacobs didn’t have me reaching for my rucksack until page 38 - but only because he starts his quest in Hull. It’s there that he picks up the trail of his grandfather Bethel Jacobs, who came from a family of extraordin arily high achievers and celebrated eccentrics. Among their ranks were engineers, poets, musicians, clock-makers and philanthropists. One Jacobs built the first underwater tunnel beneath the Hudson River; another lived a double life with a Hebridean crofter’s daughter. “

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