A Buryat girl from an indigenous people near Lake Baikal in Siberia shares her experience of earning a doctoral degree from Cambridge University. She reflects upon the peculiarities of English society from the perspective of her Buryat cultural heritage. The book describes how her upbringing in the Soviet system affected her integration into the Western society, how her Asian mentality perceived European norms and values, and how Buddhist philosophy helped her understand the Christian society.

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The book provides an acute insight into the hidden part of Cambridge life with its informal rules and untold secrets. It reveals the challenges and difficulties that the author had to go through during her journey. While exploring the nature of ‘Englishness’, she delves into the customs and traditions of her native Buryatia and finds striking similarities between these two seemingly incomparable cutures. This makes her realise that despite differing characteristics, the underlying nature of our existence is indeed universal.

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A moving and thoughtful memoir with vivid images from Buryatia and Cambridge, The Star of the Nomadess is an authentic and passionate account of a Buryat girl who aspires to promote a harmonious relationship between the East and the West, while inviting us to remember our roots in today’s globalised world.