BARTLE BULL Author of the White Rhino Hote land A Café on the Nile Continuing the epic African adventures of the characters memorably cast in The White Rhino Hotel and A Cafe on the Nile. All the treacherous intrigue of cosmopolitan Cairo and fiery drama of Rommel's desert war in Africa come vibrantly to life in this novel of historical adventure and romance. It is 1942, and civilization as the world knows it teeters on its edge. Nazi Germany stands at the height of its power. In North Africa the brilliant General Rommel's panzers threaten the Suez Canal, the oil fields of the Middle East, and the trade route to Asia. To win Egypt, though, Rommel must first take the port of Tobruk and destroy the British fortress of Bir Hakeim. There, against the massive force of Rommel's Afrika Korps, a young English hussar named Wellington Rider fights beside the French Foreign Legion. Rider's father, Anton—the professional hunter who strides so dynamically through A Cafe on the Nile—is now a desert commando engaged in obliterating Nazi air bases and petrol dumps. Not only has Anton's old friend Ernst von Decken, a German soldier of fortune, meanwhile become the enemy, but also Anton's estranged wife has entered into an affair with a Frenchman who supports Rommel's campaign. Alliances shift, loyalties deceive, espionage thrives, and danger lies as much in the dark corners of Cairo as it does in the desert night. And at a barge on the Nile, at the Cataract Cafe, under the watchful eye of its proprietor, the enigmatic Goan dwarf Olivio Alavedo, Egypt frames its destiny. “Romantic and eventful . . . a satisfying dose of wartime action, private revenge, and seething passion.”—Richard Bernstein, The New York Times “A World War II page-turner that’s part Masterpiece Theater, part Raiders of the Lost Ark, part Casablanca.”—The Washington Post
The White Rhino Hotel is a sweeping saga of love and revenge, of greed and loyalty, of pioneers struggling for a new life amidst the beauty and wildness of the African bush in the years immediately after World War I. Desperate to win estates of virgin land, thousands of World War I veterans draw lots, with the winners and their families sailing for Kenya, not knowing what they will find. Like other Europeans and Africans before them, their fates often cross at Lord Penfold's White Rhino Hotel, where guests can gamble away their plantations or satisfy other desires. It is in this setting that Bartle Bull's powerful and wonderfully evocative novel of the driving forces of nature and man's spirit of adventure takes place. At the White Rhino Hotel travelers meet the scheming dwarf Olivio Alavedo, a man obsessed by lust and vengeance. To his enemies, Olivio is a cunning adversary. To the needy Lady Penfold, he is something more personal. To young Anton Rider and the courageous pioneer Gwenn Llewelyn, the dwarf is a subtle friend. Trained by gypsies to hunt, gamble and read fortunes, Rider comes to Africa seeking gold, freedom and adventure, but finds violence and the passions of older women. Hardened by war, herself the victim of violation and loss, Gwenn Llewelyn seeks love as she struggles to build a future in Africa. Set against a background of colonial and natural history, The White Rhino Hotel could only be written by someone who knows and loves Africa and who can tell a stunning tale. Praise for Bartle Bull "Compared with Hemingway or Ruark ... Bull's knowledge of East Africa is profound."—Washington Post Book World "A wing-ding adventure story that I sat down to read on a Saturday night and finished on Sunday morning.... Everything comes together with a satisfying bang."—Boston Globe
The White Rhino Hotel is a sweeping saga of love and revenge, of greed and loyalty, of pioneers struggling for a new life amidst the beauty and wildness of the African bush in the years immediately after World War I. Desperate to win estates of virgin land, thousands of World War I veterans draw lots, with the winners and their families sailing for Kenya, not knowing what they will find. Like other Europeans and Africans before them, their fates often cross at Lord Penfold's White Rhino Hotel, where guests can gamble away their plantations or satisfy other desires. It is in this setting that Bartle Bull's powerful and wonderfully evocative novel of the driving forces of nature and man's spirit of adventure takes place. At the White Rhino Hotel travelers meet the scheming dwarf Olivio Alavedo, a man obsessed by lust and vengeance. To his enemies, Olivio is a cunning adversary. To the needy Lady Penfold, he is something more personal. To young Anton Rider and the courageous pioneer Gwenn Llewelyn, the dwarf is a subtle friend. Trained by gypsies to hunt, gamble and read fortunes, Rider comes to Africa seeking gold, freedom and adventure, but finds violence and the passions of older women. Hardened by war, herself the victim of violation and loss, Gwenn Llewelyn seeks love as she struggles to build a future in Africa. Set against a background of colonial and natural history, The White Rhino Hotel could only be written by someone who knows and loves Africa and who can tell a stunning tale. Praise for Bartle Bull "Compared with Hemingway or Ruark ... Bull's knowledge of East Africa is profound."—Washington Post Book World "A wing-ding adventure story that I sat down to read on a Saturday night and finished on Sunday morning.... Everything comes together with a satisfying bang."—Boston Globe
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