Artemis Cooper might be defined as heritage writer. The books she writes are connected with her heritage as the granddaughter of Duff Cooper, politician, diplomat and military historian, and the aristocrat actress Lady Diana; daughter of aristocrat and writer John Julius Norwich, and wife to military historian Antony Beevor. Her themes are perfectly encapsulated here, the scandalous story of the cultural broth that made Cairo infamous during World War II.
Cairo was then a British protectorate - not quite part of the Empire but effectively ruled from London. The British expats, and the first wave of military commanders stationed there, were either Raj, posh or risque, sometimes all three. This is not really the story of the ordinary infantryman, a long way from home in an alien climate, though they are mentioned.
We have the highly dubious royal family, led by the notorious King Farouk, initially in his youthful pomp, latterly at the start of his long debauched decline. In public the royals are devout Muslims, behind closed doors they are boozing and copulating with the everyone else.
The war becomes a reality with Rommel's advance through the desert. Cairo survives. Then the war-story turns to the Special Operations Executive, with Cairo the base for operations supporting resistance movements in Greece, Crete and the Balkans.
It is incredibly well done. The characters are expertly summarised and Cooper somehow makes it easy for her reader to keep track of the various cliques and conspiracies. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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