Jordan is a place unlike any other. With Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria and Israel and Palestine on its borders, as well as the Red Sea and Dead Sea, it's the crossroads of not only the Middle East, but of Asia, Europe and Africa.

On Jordan's southern shoreline sits the vibrant port city of Aqaba, and it was here that Rev. Laurence Hubbard found himself in 1997 as the chaplain for the Missions to Seamen (now Mission to Seafarers).

Without a doubt, this locale was different from Laurence's native England in so many ways, and yet the landscape was compellingly familiar: it has a huge number of Biblical sites and associations, and thus it was a landscape Laurence just had to explore - and explore it he did.

This fascinating book - part memoir, part history - touches on 4,000 years of history as examined through the eyes of an Englishman nurturing the rebirth of Christianity in the Arab world. It also paints colourful pictures of the diverse multitude of locals and seafarers who touched Rev. Laurence's life during his time in Aqaba, and considers the city's future as commercialism arrives at this ancient settlement.