Random House Web address: http://www.randomhouse.com/
v3.1
In memory of
Skip and Mary Dickinson
For Quintin and Griffin
And for Louise Dennys,
with thanks
“Most of you, I am sure, remember the tragic circumstances of the death of Geoffrey Clifton at Gilf Kebir, followed later by the disappearance of his wife, Katharine Clifton, which took place during the 1939 desert expedition in search of Zerzura.
“I cannot begin this meeting tonight without referring very sympathetically to those tragic occurrences.
“The lecture this evening …”
From the minutes of the Geographical Society meeting
of November 194-, London
Contents
Cover
About the Author
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
I The Villa
II In Near Ruins
III Sometime a Fire
IV South Cairo 1930–1938
V Katharine
VI A Buried Plane
VII In Situ
VIII The Holy Forest
IX The Cave of Swimmers
X August
Acknowledgements
Reader’s Guide
Also by This Author
I
The Villa
SHE STANDS UP in the garden where she has been working and looks into the distance. She has sensed a shift in the weather. There is another gust of wind, a buckle of noise in the air, and the tall cypresses sway. She turns and moves uphill towards the house, climbing over a low wall, feeling the first drops of rain on her bare arms. She crosses the loggia and quickly enters the house.