One of Us [Hardcover]

David Freeman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1997

Steeped in memory and rumours of war, One of Us is a beautifully crafted story of the days of the colonial world of Egypt and England. The British High Commissioner, Sir Malcolm Cheyne, his brought his young wife out to Cairo. And there she meets the Egyptian Prince. He is young, handsome and ardent in his pursuit of her. Soon war and circumstance create a triangle that is as turbulently political as it is erotic. Set against the glamour of pre-war Cairo, this is a great historical romance.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

When Vera Napier agrees to accompany her great friend Emma Lyttelton on a visit to her uncle, the British ambassador to Egypt, she is looking for adventure, but even Vera is surprised at the adventure she discovers. Egypt, on the eve of World War II and the accession of the young, handsome, and sybaritic King Farouk, is a place of passion and plotting, a place perfectly suited to a beauty accustomed to enslaving every man she sees, including the king and the ambassador. Freeman's (A Hollywood Education, Caroll & Graf, 1992 ) tale, told alternately by Vera and the king's former English tutor, is an impressionistic portrait of Egypt at the close of the monarchy and the British Empire, but events and relationships pass by with little or no development, leaving the reader curiously disaffected and uninvolved. An optional purchase.?Cynthia Johnson, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, Mass.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Handsomely crafted fiction, set in Egypt during the dark days leading up to WW II. Here, against a deadly mix of cultures--the Egyptian, with a mighty past echoing in a chaotic present, and the indolent, arrogant British--Freeman (A Hollywood Education, 1986, etc.) plays out the farcical-to-tragic consequence of an unlikely triangle: a young, mercurial King Farouk; a British High Commissioner, a rock of Empire; and a beautiful woman beguiling both. Twenty-two-year-old Jimmy Peel, the first of several narrators, is assigned to tutor the 15-year-old Farouk, presumably in the classics. But it soon becomes obvious to Jimmy that the British High Commissioner, Sir Malcolm Cheyne, hopes to ``colonize'' Farouk and make him ``one of us.'' The prince, cosseted, denied nothing since birth (although ignored by his kingly father), is charming but tunes out anything that doesn't claim his wayward interest. His English-izing starts at a British prep school in 1936 when his father dies, and when the still young Farouk becomes king. Meanwhile, Sir Malcolm, a widower with two daughters, has married the dazzling, adoring Vera, 30 years his junior. Vera then steps forward to narrate her initial days as Lady Cheyne: her careful stepmothering, her official duties, and-- bemused and enticed by the unmistakable infatuation of Farouk--her erotic adventure. Eventually, the bond between Sir Malcolm and Farouk (a new kind of father, a new kind of son) frays and breaks, as do treaties and mutual accommodations, while the affair of Farouk and Vera becomes dangerously obvious. Jimmy will barely escape with his life as the Germans advance, while the isolation of the king (with his Axis leanings) uncorks smoldering hatreds toward the English, and Cairo is swept by riots. A stylish, startlingly inventive evocation of a pre-Nasser Egypt, with a stunning cast, all of whom are, in different ways, ultimately trapped by their appetites or wilfulness. A classy, exciting entertainment. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078670490X
• ISBN-13: 978-0786704903
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,522,517 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good novel, not a great one., January 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: One of Us (Hardcover)

One Of Us is both a fascinating read and a disappointing story. The British Colonial world that is long gone has been evocatively and lovingly recreated. The author was able to bring the reader back to pre-WWII Egypt with all its sights, sounds and smells. The story is an intriguing love quadrangle, played out against the decline of England's hold on its colonies. And while there are some very funning and rich passages, the story feels slight and the characters thinly drawn. A deeper delving into the characters motivations (other than patriotism, ego and lust) would have been enough to make this a great novel. Instead it's only a good one.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At last---a historical novel for readers who think and feel., November 19, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: One of Us (Hardcover)

The author cleverly leads us through a world of decadence and intrigue from the dual viewpoints of a cautious intelligent young man and an irresistibly manipulative beauty. Neither the characters nor the reader know how much their perceptions will change until
all is at stake. A primer on the dangers of passion in politics.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Farouk was more "one of us" than Britain planned., June 27, 2000

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: One of Us (Paperback)

Set in Alexandria and Cairo just prior to and during World War II, One of Us depicts the efforts Britain made to control Egypt, Suez, and the destiny of the region. As its protectorate was ending, plenipot Malcolm Cheyne believed that the best way to control Egypt was through young prince Farouk--to make him "one of us" by sending him to school in England, providing tutoring by a young Briton, James Peel, and even trying to provide for him a British bride. As representatives of Britain enjoyed the sensuous pleasures of Alexandria, manipulated events in Cairo and at the palace, and even attempted, eventually, to influence the by-now King Farouk by forcing his abdication, feeling quite justified all the while, Farouk showed how "one-of-us" he really was. Playing the Nazis against the British, ignoring the terms under which Egypt became "independent," attempting to seduce Ambassador Cheyne's wife, and leading a sensuous life the British ironically considered debauched, Farouk showed himself to be student who learned his lessons well. A fascinating look at a Egypt in the forties and at Farouk before he became a caricature of himself.