BOYLE OF CAIRO, by Clara A. Boyle

This non-fiction biography will appeal to those who have an interest in the Egypt of the last turn of the century, or the British Empire at its zenith. Taken from his correspondence by the widow of Harry Boyle, the brilliant, self-effacing, right-hand man to Lord Cromer (who ran Egypt for a quarter century on behalf of Britain), it gives a marvelous insight into what is almost completely a vanished world: the beginning of the slide of the British Empire into what it is today. At the time, Cairo was the Paris of the Mid-East, a winter waterhole for the rich and privileged and connected, a trading center, the lynchpin on the route between England and India, and a great place to do a little espionage. Lots of anecdotes makes this pretty easy reading. Likely only for the historically dedicated, I nonetheless found it fascinating. A 4. Can be ordered from your library as an interlibrary loan.