Winner of the first ever Booker Prize in 1969It was 1956 and he was in Port Said. About these two facts Townrow was reasonably certain. He had been summoned there, to Egypt, by the widow of his deceased friend, Elie Khoury. Having been found dead in the street, she is convinced he was murdered, but nobody seems to agree with her. What of Leah Strauss, his supposed mistress? And of the invading British paratroops? Only an Englishman, surely, would take for granted that the British would have behaved themselves.Against the backdrop of the Suez Crisis, Townrow is forced towards a re-examination of the basic rules by which he has been living his life; and into a realisation that he too may have something to answer for._An undisputed classic._ David Baddiel, The Times_A fine writer who has never had the full recognition that he deserves._ Graham Greene