Season of Betrayal: A Novel [Paperback]

Lara McCauley, hopeful but, as she notes, "no longer naïve" at 29, follows her war correspondent husband, Mac, to Beirut in 1983, when fault lines of international terrorism (then in its embryonic stages) ran through the city just as surely as the Green Line that separated Lebanon's warring factions. Lara, curious and loving, has little in common with seasoned journalist Mac, who has revealed himself over the years of their relationship as a selfish, possessive and abusive bully. When Mac begins an affair with his Lebanese translator, Lara finds a friend in another outsider: the mysterious Thomas Warkowski, a freelance journalist who's rumored to be a spy, and thought to be gay. With her marriage unraveling, and the city's mounting body count dismissed internationally as "Beirut-bang-bang," Lara beds Thomas with far-reaching and catastrophic consequences. Setting the story against the backdrop of a society cruelly tearing itself apart (and punctuating it with the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks at Beirut International Airport), debut novelist Robertson draws a powerful story out of Lara's first-person narration. The author solidly dramatizes the ironies and ambiguities, moral and otherwise, of Lara's desperate encounters. (Oct.)
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"An exceptional first novel, gripping and real." -- Library Journal starred review

**DEBUT FICTION** Lara McCauley never wanted to go to Beirut. But in 1983, when her husbands career as a foreign correspondent brings her there in the midst of the civil war, she tries to make the best of it for the sake of her marriage. Unlike the other foreign visitorsmost of whom are hard-charging journalists like her husbandLara cant seem to find her footing in the chaotic city. Although shes relatively insulated from risk, shes as terrified of the frequent eruptions of violence as she is ashamed of her fear. Bored, lonely, and afraid, Lara defies her increasingly bullying husband by befriending a mysterious Polish journalist and beginning to work part-time as a broadcast film editor. But she is an inexperienced player in a dangerous game. As the U.S. mission of presence in Lebanon rapidly morphs into something far more deadly, Lara unwittingly sets in motion a chain of events with devastating consequences. Drawing on her years of experience as a foreign correspondent, Margaret Lowrie Robertson brings war-torn Beirut to life in this gripping debut.

 

Snipers, shelling, car bombs, suicide attacks. This is Beirut 1983, and Lara McCauley is an outsider in a city at war. Against this chaotic canvas, Lara tries to hold her marriage together, but her life is quietly falling apart. Lara and Mac arrive to take up his new posting, not long after the Marines are sent in as peacekeepers to help restore stability in this fractured land, but the Marines quickly become embroiled in Lebanon's political problems. Her husband, Mac, an American journalist, has his hands full with work and a new circle of comrades in arms at the Commodore Hotel. Lonely and scared, Lara increasingly seeks out the friendship of a Polish journalist, and their desperate affair sets into motion events with unforeseen, fatal consequences.

"A crisp, clear, tough voice reminiscent of Joan Didion's journalism. Her portrait of Beirut -- at once vivid and meticulous -- displays a reporter's gift for detail."

--Wall Street Journal

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

MARGARET LOWRIE ROBERTSON has reported for CBS and CNN from Beirut, Cairo, and the United States. Most recently, she worked as an international correspondent for CNN based in London, where she lives with her husband, CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson.