Iris and Ruby

Author(s): Rosie Thomas

Fiction.

Rich and alive with descriptions of the bustling streets of old Cairo, and the vast, foreboding desert surrounding it - "Iris and Ruby" is a stirring story of mothers, daughters and the distance between three generations of one family. Stiflingly quiet and claustrophobic, Iris Black's Cairo house is suddenly disturbed by the unexpected arrival of her troubled and wilful granddaughter, Ruby. Teenage Ruby has run away from England to seek solace with the grandmother she hasn't seen for many years. An unlikely bond is formed as the two open themselves up to one another. Ruby helps Iris document her deteriorating memories of the glittering, cosmopolitan Cairo of World War Two, a time when she lost her heart to her one true love - the enigmatic Captain Xan Molyneux - and then lost him to the ravages of the war. Iris' early devastation shapes her own heart and that of her daughter and granddaughter in turn - and leads the two women into terrible danger in the Egyptian desert.


Product Information

A stirring story of love, loss and the distance between three generations of one family.

Winner of Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2007.

Praise for Iris and Ruby: 'Thomas can write with ravishing sensuality.' KATE sAUNDERS, 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 'Rosie Thomas is both a subtle and realistic author and her portrait of Iris is never less than absorbing.' Elizabeth Buchan, Daily Mail

Rosie Thomas is the author of a number of celebrated novels, including the bestsellers White, The Potter's House, If My Father Loved Me and Sun at Midnight. 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, and spent time on a tiny Bulgarian research station in Antarctica. She took inspiration for this book from a trip to Egypt and a dramatic excursion into the desert. She lives in London.

General Fields

  • : 9780007173549
  • : HarperCollins Publishers Limited
  • : Harper Element
  • : August 2006
  • : United Kingdom
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Rosie Thomas
  • : Paperback
  • : 1016
  • : English
  • : 823.914
  • : 400