I shall start from the very beginning . Julie K Rose approached me via a mutual friend almost a year ago before publishing Dido's crown.
This Historical fiction is very dear to my heart because I saw it grow from being a draft to a concrete published novel . This also been my first time editing and giving input on late drafts of a fully-fledged published author . Julie was such an awesome person to work with .
Now , let's move to the Novel itself. This historical fiction takes place between the Tunisian , French and British suburbs, but most of the events took place in the thrilling and risky tunisian setting of the 1930s .
I personally see Dido's crown as a complex and fast paced political intrigue with an eager attempt to quench the wanderlust of the reader as well as a way to cross time and space and revisit a magnificent and complicated era while adding a nicely thought affair in the midst of its hassle.
here is a blurb of the Novel :
"Set in Tunisia and France in 1935, Dido's Crown is a taut literary-historical adventure influenced by Indiana Jones, The Thin Man, and John le Carré.
Mary Wilson MacPherson has always been adept at putting the past behind her: her father's death, her sister's disappearance, and her complicated relationship with childhood friends Tom and Will.
But that all changes when, traveling to North Africa on business for her husband, Mary meets a handsome French-Tunisian trader who holds a mysterious package her husband has purchased — a package which has drawn the interest not only of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, but the Nazis as well.
When Tom and Will arrive in Tunisia, Mary suddenly finds herself on a race across the mesmerizing and ever-changing landscapes of the country, to the shores of southern France, and all across the wide blue Mediterranean. Despite her best efforts at distancing herself from her husband's world, Mary has become embroiled in a mystery that could threaten not only Tunisian and British security in the dangerous political landscape of 1935, but Mary's beliefs about her past and the security of her own future."
The author helped me see my own home country in a different light. The characters and events fitted nicely together as the intricate plot went on. The main characters were well tailored by the author but the one that speaks to me the most must be Alain Saidini because of his Tuniso-french background. His confidence and poise mirrored that of Tunisian intellectuals from the 30s, also his fears and concerns made him a very relatable character, Alain was highly ambitious and driven and in the same time a person who values family ties and that's how most tunisians are like ,until this day.
The mysterious package is something that the reader himself should discover on his own . A rise in the reader's Adrenaline is assured . The thrill of the chase and peek-a-boos with the Nazis and others, will follow the reader throughout the whole novel .
This book is simply awesome ,it has it all : a catchy setting , interesting characters and a mysterious package.
Don't hesitate to check the Author's website and order the book on Amazon , Indie Bound or any of the other bookstores mentioned on Julie's Website.
