The Spahis

1952, North Africa

The kingdom of Hejib is known for being one of the most backward and primitive of the Arab States.

The great Shéik Mahmoud, with his group of Bedouins, rules this kingdom and the little port of Dusa with all the cruelty and ruthlessness that you’d expect from a warmonger.

Though the townspeople have grown tired and weary of Mahmoud’s rule and when a rusty old steamer pulls into Dusa harbour everything changes…

On this steamer emerges the Brotherhood of Tormented Men. These are men of numerous Arab countries drawn together by their mutual hatred for the tyrants across these lands.

Determined to dispose of this tyranny they raise the common people of Dusa, arming themselves against Mahmoud’s sentries to reclaim the kingdom.

Mahmoud is away at war, driving out the French who occupied the northern Arab territory. They eagerly await his return…

Meanwhile, wondering the Sahara Desert is an Arabian guide named Suleiman leading a party of four American deserters wearing the uniform of the French Foreign Legion, and a woman.

They seek a man named Herman Sturmer, wanted by the Allied War Grimes Commission, who has brutally killed a thousand trapped American prisoners.

Suleiman, whose life the American’s saved, has promised to bring them to his brotherhood’s hideout — the Brotherhood of Tormented Men. The Brotherhood hold Sturmer captive and they are forced to travel to Dusa to claim their prisoner.

When they finally arrive in Dusa it appears this mission will not be as straightforward as they had hoped…

The Brotherhood are unwilling to hand over Stumer and Sheik Mahmoud is speedily returning to reclaim his kingdom.

The American deserters need to decide if they are going to join the Brotherhood in this war or flee with their lives and without their prisoner…

Praise for Gordon Landsborough

“…exiting, tough, fast and moving novel” – Times Literary Supplement

Gordon Holmes Landsborough (1913 – 1983) was an English publisher, author and bookseller. He worked with various publishers and even set up his own publishing business at the forefront on change in the paperback publishing and bookselling industry. He was widely known amongst his peers as the ‘maverick publishing genius’. Other works by Landsborough include Benghazi Breakout (1966), Long Run to Tobruk (1975), The Dead Commando (1976) and many more.