Iris and Ruby: A gripping, exotic historical novel

Iris and Ruby: A gripping, exotic historical novel
Rosie Thomas

A gripping, exotic and epic tale for fans of Dinah Jeffries and Victoria HislopThe unexpected arrival of her willful teenage granddaughter, Ruby, brings life and disorder to 82-year-old Iris Black’s old house in Cairo. Ruby, driven away from England by her fraught relationship with her own mother, is seeking refuge with the grandmother she hasn’t seen for years.An unlikely bond develops as Ruby helps Iris document her fading memories of the glittering, cosmopolitan Cairo of World War Two, and of her one true love – the enigmatic Captain Xan Molyneux – whom she lost to the ravages of war.This lost love shaped Iris’s past – and will affect Ruby’s future in ways they could not have imagined…

Iris and Ruby

Rosie Thomas

Copyright (#ulink_94babc08-4aaf-5fe5-9efe-020cfae5d54e)

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2006

Copyright © Rosie Thomas 2006

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2016 Jacket photographs © Shutterstock.com (http://Shutterstock.com)

Rosie Thomas asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007173549

Ebook Edition © April 2016 ISBN: 9780007460106

Version: 2016-04-28

Praise for Rosie Thomas: (#ulink_16fccd64-2bf5-5519-ae35-f6e89a01f0a1)

‘Rosie Thomas writes with beautiful, effortless prose, and shows a rare compassion and a real understanding of the nature of love’

The Times

‘Honest and absorbing, Rosie Thomas mixes the bitter and the hopeful with the knowledge that the human heart is far more complicated than any rule suggests’

Mail on Sunday

‘A master storyteller’

Cosmopolitan

‘Thomas’s novels are beautifully written. This one is a treat’

Marie Claire

‘A lush and sweeping voyage of self-discovery’

Eithne Farry, Daily Mail

‘Prepare to be dazzled … an epic tale of sisterhood and betrayal’

Company

‘Heart-rending and beautifully written … I read it in one delicious go, tears pouring down my face. You cannot fail to be moved’

Emma Lee-Potter, Express

‘A terrific book, beautifully written … questions about identity, belonging, infidelity, dying and forgiveness make this a very moving study of the human heart’

Australian Women’s Weekly

Dedication (#ulink_ac43adcc-234a-5050-b849-e3c8e012c67a)

For Louis, Solomon and Misty. The new generation

Contents

Cover (#uc89ed1a6-3244-53b3-b7d3-273354dc4f77)

Title Page (#uf7517e48-a26b-5140-8bce-21abf6dbf035)

Copyright (#u6119881d-eac3-51d0-9a63-c537d977c15c)

Praise for Rosie Thomas (#u3c524b37-dbc0-5208-ba04-416000079737)

Dedication (#ud39cee40-b153-5edf-86ac-f517aec90ca8)

Chapter One (#u51af5d77-77b0-5deb-874f-878123c0f5c1)

Chapter Two (#u0d0dbc68-4a2a-56b2-b3ee-22f7cf468365)

Chapter Three (#uf4887fa5-f2ec-5dff-9ca5-f11b0ef4b1cc)

Chapter Four (#uc8eb20fe-fb77-5214-abba-eff76f284ac4)

Chapter Five (#u24783afe-5f82-57d0-85a2-6ce48a4f137a)

Chapter Six (#u3b845af3-864b-5e28-9d5f-4e626b360e7a)

Chapter Seven (#u20cdab45-7a87-567b-b02e-f31760531d2f)

Chapter Eight (#uec172894-8205-5853-86d7-2b33fc982e8e)

Chapter Nine (#u28464868-040a-56b0-9e49-03c31ea631fd)

Chapter Ten (#u2e24cec4-eeb1-5be0-a584-b3cea16b6a96)

Chapter Eleven (#u688671f9-1a2c-545c-8101-227356d32d52)

Chapter Twelve (#u8ca260d8-454c-5d5d-88f3-8e5cb5c96055)

Chapter Thirteen (#u392355e8-06ea-5414-816e-c0cd32ffacf5)

Chapter Fourteen (#uc382bb35-bfb9-516b-b6ee-8d8638face62)

Chapter Fifteen (#u92abcf2e-6669-520f-8e25-aa9f869fd41a)

Chapter Sixteen (#u5f6000e5-16cf-5a98-9826-5a3a0a001fa4)

Chapter Seventeen (#u4439a414-b834-5694-b433-c356e59752a6)

Keep Reading: Daughter of the House (#ub8b4fe49-cdba-5815-8f53-18fdeb32ed4e)