Wartime Cairo, 1916, a melting pot of spies and allied troops poised for the big push across the Arabian Desert to victory in the Middle East. Intrepid war correspondent Lea Attwood seeks news of her husband, Michael, a British agent working undercover in Turkish territory. Lea is unaware that she has been targeted as bait to lure him to his death. Cally, their resourceful 16-year-old daughter has followed her parents to Egypt and narrowly escapes drowning when her ship is sunk. She is befriended by young Lieutenant Rick Holman, a battle-fatigued survivor of the Gallipoli campaign.Following a terrifying ordeal when lost in the desert, Lea is reunited with her husband. But both are taken prisoner by Michael's German enemy counterpart and sentenced to be shot.On the eve of a crucial battle, Lea and a wounded Michael escape, desperate to prevent the impending slaughter of thousands of Allied soldiers.
Frances Burke is an Australian writer of historical novels set in varying countries and periods, usually with a background of war or civil upheaval, and from the viewpoint of a woman challenging the accepted mores of the time. The books are fast moving, researched on the spot and historically accurate.
Both ENDLESS TIME and HOLD HIGH THE FLAME have won Australia-wide awards. Two more, DRAGON WIND RISING and WINDSTORM are set in more recent times, one during the 1900 Boxer Rebellion in China, and the other during WW1 Arabia; while the latest, SCARLET WIND, depicting a very different aspect of the 1789 French Revolution is to be released this month, June, 2009.
