Sunset Oasis [Paperback]

This novel is set in Egypt at the end of the 19th century. Many English readers may find parts of it hard going if they are unfamiliar with the history of that period, so here is the background, even if it looks a bit like a spoiler. In 1881 Colonel Arabi (here called Urabi) Pasha had started a nationalist revolt against European financial control of Egypt and against the Khedive who had acquiesced in it. The British navy had bombarded Alexandria in June 1882, had landed an army which defeated Arabi Pasha at the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir in September 1882, and in 1883 had taken over political control of Egypt also. One of the two central characters of the novel, Mahmood, had been a lieutenant sent to the defence of Alexandria; had fallen out with Bedouin looters who claimed to be supporters of the Khedive; had been denounced as a traitor to the Khedive when the revolt was over; had been cleared, but was still held under suspicion by the British and by the Khedive's officials.

They therefore sent him as district commissioner and tax collector to the Siwa Oasis, not a place invented, but an area of 600 square miles, far out in the desert, some 350 miles west of Cairo. That was a dangerous assignment, not only because of the perils of getting there, but also because the Siwans, most of whom are not Arabs but Berbers, had, since its occupation by Egypt in 1819, been very hostile to rule from Cairo and had already, in two recent rebellions, the last only two years earlier, killed previous Egyptian district commissioners. In the oasis itself there was a centuries-old rivalry between two clans, the "Westerners" and the "Easterners", who had often fought each other, though both groups would form a common front against tax collectors from Cairo.

Mahmood, depressed but stoical, is married to Catherine, an Irish Catholic who shares her husband's hatred of British oppression. Against his advice, she insists on going with him: she is fearless; and not only does she love him, but she is also a scholar of antiquity. She knows that Alexander the Great had once campaigned in those parts; and it is a historical fact that he had visited the Siwa Oasis where an oracle had proclaimed him divine and the son of the god Amun (see www.touregypt.net/featurestories/agt.htm.). His sepulchre was originally in Memphis; was then moved to Alexandria; but after six centuries disappeared. Catherine has a hunch that it might have been moved to Siwa (anticipating the disputed claim made in 1995 by a Greek archaeologist, Liana Souvaltzi, that she had located it in the Siwa Oasis).

Anyway, Catherine hopes to find evidence for her hunch. On the way to the Oasis, she responds lyrically to the desert in all its moods, in the most beautiful descriptions. But the arrival of this emancipated woman, this infidel is of course seen as another provocation to the Siwans. In addition Mahmood is dangerously ignorant of the customs and superstitions of the community; Catherine has read about them in her books, but that does not stop her from offending against them.

By now the reader of this review can see that we are in for a story full of menace and tension in this hostile atmosphere, and it would be a spoiler to go into further details. The chapters alternate between the often introspective accounts of Mahmood, of Catherine - both haunted by their past, both having moments of self-loathing - and of some of the other characters. Towards the end of the book the tensions that develop between husband and wife or the effect of Catherine's sister Fiona arriving in Siwa are more prominent than the explosive situation in the Oasis - and in fact the novel ends, rather unsatisfactorily in my opinion, with a very different kind of explosion which leaves a lot of loose ends behind.

I love Bahaa's elegant style in picking his words & descriptions . I liked this book ; which is my 2nd novel for him after (Love in exile) , again I am facing that gloomy desperate internal conflict for reaching peace ! I mean making peace with yourself- like if it impossible to accomplish such precious balance !!

The events took place in Siwa Oiasis , the magical place that inspired a lot of authors , (I believe Coelho was one of them in the Alchemist)..

The timing is at the late of the 19th century , after the British military occupation of Egypt ..

Here , we can taste the traditions of that so far era and area ;even the weird & unlogic ones , and the complicated relations among ( Egyptians ..British ..Irish .. Bedouins , Berber & Turkish ) at that time !!

beside that historical review of such era and much farther, we read about the legends of (Alexander the great ) his visit to the Oasis , his whole life & the romers about his tomb there !

this novel let us dive in how time & place can affect man & wife relationship.. , in facing the Contradiction between : East & west , love & desire , good & evil , bravery & cowardly ..and most of all Life & death ..

I enjoyed the book. I will let others tell you of the plot as they do in reviews. I was disappointed in the character development. You were never told what motivated the characters. We saw their actions and the result of their actions but never quite got to know the characters themselves. I enjoyed the landscape and would have enjoyed even more had the author chosen to give us more to read. Very happy i read the book but still, it lacked.

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