Tunisian Dreams

Celia, an ex-BBC journalist turned film director, is in Tunisia a year before the Arab Spring with her archaeologist boyfriend, Sam, looking for locations for her next film. She comes across a story she cannot resist. She does not know that it will change her life, blunt her emotions, but make her name. Whilst Celia is out of contact for weeks following her story, Sam thinks she’s found someone else and falls for the attractive and rich Alison Grainger. Sam, who has always been money conscious, has his own lucrative project; to turn one of Tunisia’s most interesting Roman ruins into a living Roman-era town, with actors in togas, nudes in the public baths and gladiators – financed by the cynical, immensely rich Mr Ayeb. But Sam has a dilemma: he’s uncovered something sensational at the site. It needs excavating but to do so would hold up the project – and Mr Ayeb’s projects are never held up.

In a beautiful country ripe for revolt, this is a story of a man and two women: secrets suppressed, feminine curiosity, an epic quest and migration from Africa – the problem no one wants to face. Readers are given fascinating insights into the rites of the citizens of Roman Africa in 200 AD, and engaged in the debate about commercialising our heritage and the plight of sub-Saharan Africans looking for a better life. The characters are true to life: interesting but flawed. Suspense is maintained to the very end when the threads are drawn together in an unexpected, spectacular and profoundly moving ending. Written by an ex-Ambassador to Tunisia, with an assured style and great sensitivity, this is an exceptionally readable and thoughtful page-turner.

Ivor Rawlinson's diplomatic career began as British Consul in Florence and ended as Ambassador in Tunisia before the revolution. Surrounded by Roman remains, Tunisia was also Ivor's vantage point for observing African migration, which he believes we ignore at our peril. Ivor lives in London with his French wife.