Arabesque Author:Geoffrey Household Geoffrey Household is a name that means superlative writing and good reading to a large number of people. Many of those who read his first novel, THE THIRD HOUR, felt that here was a twentieth-century Stevenson. But when they, with thousands of others, read his ROGUE MALE they were astounded by the man's virtuosity. Here was no replica of anyone... more », but a great storyteller in his own right.
Now Comes ARABESQUE, which is a still different sort of novel with a different setting. In its lean and live narrative of adventure on the international level any serious implications are disguised by a deft touch and rich humor.
ARABESQUE IS a love story set at the crossroads of the Middle East, a story as crowded and colorful as a Near East bazaar. Armande Herne, half English and half French, sitting out the war in Beirut with no visible means of support, found herself in the center of a maze of activity and intrigue. Her detached manner baffled people and her cool gray eyes suggested a cynical lack of principles. Gossip endowed her with a purpose; she must be a spy, people thought. British military, Vichy French and Free French, Christian and Moslem, Arab and Jew were involved in the conflicts which whirled about her. But it was a British security sergeant of rugged principles and sensitive intelligence who discovered her idealism even as he feared that his investigations might damn her.« less