The Alexandria Semaphore

In 1863 thirteen-year-old Maxime Touta watched a young officer being publicly degraded in the Place des Consuls in Alexandria. The scene marked the beginning of an extraordinary period in 19th century Egypt, which was then governed by the European puppet ruler, the Khedive Ismail, a man who dreamed of turning Cairo into a new Paris and who promoted one of the great engineering feats of the century, the construction of the Suez Canal. Maxime grows up against the background of an Egypt that is still Ottoman in many ways, but which is increasingly prey to British and French colonial rivalry. It is he who narrates this compelling novel that is, at once, a love story, an enthralling family saga and a reconstruction of a romantic and dangerous period in Egyptian history. In bringing the period so vividly to life Robert Solé once again shows his mastery as a historical novelist.

• Author
• Robert Solé

• Format
• paperback

• Pages
• 304

• Publisher
• Harvill Press

• Language
• english

• ISBN
• 9781860468896

• Genres
• fiction

• Release date
• 2001