His main areas of interest is the Middle East and Africa, particularly Egypt, and he has lived and travelled extensively in these regions.
Sattin's book A Winter on the Nile: Florence Nightingale, Gustave Flaubert and the Temptations of Egypt, a collection of Florence Nightingale's previously-unpublished letters, was described in The Literary Review as "a triumph of the historical imagination"[2] and in The Independent as "some of the best writing of the year".
[3] The Lonely Planet Guide A House Somewhere: Tales of Life Abroad,[4] to which Sattin contributed, has been used as a set text for teaching English A-level.
His work has appeared in a number of other international publication, including The Spectator,[6] The Daily Telegraph, the Independent and the Guardian.
[7] He sits on the editorial advisory board of Geographical magazine and has contributed to several guidebook series, including the Lonely Planet volumes on Egypt and Algeria.