Balthazar

Published in 1958, this second novel of the Alexandria Quartet returns to the Egyptian city and to the narrator Darley's affair with Justine Hosnani. Balthazar, a physician and mystic, sends Darley a commentary that revises his first account: motives, lovers, and political work among the city's Greeks, Jews, Copts, and British appear in a different order. Pursewarden, Nessim, Melissa, and Clea re-enter the story as Darley learns how little he understood the circle around him. The book is less a sequel than a palimpsest: the same years in Alexandria are retold so that desire, espionage, and friendship no longer sit where Darley first placed them.

Three-quarter bound in orange cloth with gilt spine title and photo illustrated front board. Brown slipcase.