At the end of the novel, Tony, like Mr Allen, sets off on an expedition into the jungle – only to be taken captive by an ancient tribe. Instead of killing or torturing him, however, their chief subjects Tony to a far graver punishment. He forces him to spend the rest of his life reading aloud the complete works of Charles Dickens, over and over and over.

“Let us read Little Dorrit again,” the illiterate chief tells Tony, after telling an English rescue party that their missing compatriot has sadly passed away. “There are passages in that book I can never hear without the temptation to weep.”

I hope Mr Allen’s family can persuade him to stay at home in future. Westerners should resist interfering in the lives of ancient tribes. I know this from experience. One morning about 15 years ago, while working at a men’s magazine, I arrived in reception to be confronted by the unexpected sight of an exiled tribal leader from the West Papuan region of Indonesia, in feather head-dress and other regalia. He was refusing to leave the office until the editor gave him a personal apology. A week earlier, the magazine had run a competition to win a trip to our visitor’s homeland, and in his view the tone of the copy perpetuated unfair and inaccurate stereotypes about his people.