Winner of the Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2007. A story that veers back and forth between war-time Cairo and Iris’ early life and the present, with Ruby, her somewhat mixed-up but feisty 17-year old granddaughter who has run away from England. With wonderful descriptions of the sounds, sights and smells of Cairo against a background of expatriate life and Rommel’s war, this is first rate, she is such a competent writer. It’s amazing how, having read Sun at Midnight, set in Antarctica, you can imagine her having spent years in cold climates, she now, one book later, comes up giving you the feeling that she has spent a lifetime in Africa.
The bestselling author ';writes with ravishing sensuality' in this saga of a wartime love that reverberates through three generations of women (The Times, London). The unexpected arrival of her willful teenage granddaughter, Ruby, brings life and disorder to eight-two-year-old Iris Black's old house in Cairo. Ruby, driven by her fraught relationship with her own mother to run away from England, is seeking refuge with the grandmother she hasn't seen for years. An unlikely bond develops between them, as Ruby helps Iris record her fading memories of the glittering, cosmopolitan Cairo of World War IIand of her one true love whom she lost to the ravages of conflict. This long-ago love has shaped Iris's life, and, as becomes increasingly apparent, those of her daughter and her granddaughter. And it is to affect them all, again, in ways they could not have imagined. ';[Thomas's] evocation of the wartime Cairo has all the raffish, glittering brittleness of life on the edge... Touches on the varieties and nuances of love between men and women, and the power of family relationships to enhance and destroy lives.' Elizabeth Buchan, Daily Mail ';The pairing of these two women, at opposite life stages, shows how the generations can heal one another while discovering more about themselves... Lovely to read.' Historical Novel Society ';[A] brilliant tale. Rosie Thomas is a writer whose talent shines with every page. I was lost immediately as the pages began turning and the story swallowed me up whole and took me along the two women's journeys.' Urban Book Reviews
‘Thomas can write with ravishing sensuality.’ - The Times
‘Her evocation of the wartime [Cairo] has all the raffish, glittering brittleness of life on the edge… touches on the varieties and nuances of love betweeen men and women, and the power of family relationships to enhance and destroy lives.’ - ELIZABETH BUCHAN, Daily Mail
‘Whether brilliantly conjuring the past - the colour and life of wartime Cairo, the loves and the losses, the friendships made and severed - portraying Lesley’s stifled life or capturing Ruby’s tangled emotions, Rosie Thomas creates unforgettable characters and settings. She’s a superb writer.’ - Choice Magazine
Author
About Rosie Thomas
Rosie Thomas is the author of a number of celebrated novels, including the bestsellers The Kashmir Shawl, Sun at Midnight, Iris and Ruby and Constance. Once she was established as a writer and her children were grown, she discovered a love of travelling and mountaineering. She has climbed in the Alps and the Himalayas, competed in the Peking to Paris car rally, spent time on a tiny Bulgarian research station in Antarctica and travelled the silk road through Asia. She lives in London.
With wonderful descriptions of the sounds, sights and smells of Cairo against a background of expatriate life and Rommel’s war, this is first rate, she is such a competent writer. It’s amazing how, having read Sun at Midnight, set in Antarctica, you can imagine her having spent years in cold climates, she now, one book later, comes up giving you the feeling that she has spent a lifetime in Africa.
