My friend Alexander
McNabb (@AlexanderMcNabb) has
gone and done it again. This month saw the publication of a second novel in
which I was somewhat involved -- albeit as a beta reader -- and I’m feeling
like the mother of the bride.
After the first, Olives, I couldn't wait to get my PDF version of Beirut -- An Explosive Thriller. It's dynamite! And now I look forward to the third, Shemlan.
Instead of the usual
book review, I sent Alex a few questions about one of the characters in the
book – Leila Medawar. Alex gave me the answers in a post published on his blog, Fake
Plastic Souks on Friday (October 19):
Beirut And The Disposable Character
Lynch called across to Leila. ‘Where’s Deir Na’ee?’
She uncurled and came to him, looking over his
shoulder at the screen, her blouse opening to show the warm brown mound of her
breast. ‘Deir Na’ee? The lonely home? Sounds like something up in the Bekaa.
Never heard of it. Try Googling it. Might be a village somewhere.’
‘And “Spike”?’
She paused, then turned to regain her place on the
sofa. ‘No idea, habibi. I’m not a phone book.’
Lynch chuckled, the search phrase ‘Deir Na’ee’ for
some reason returning the Irish poem A
bhonnán bhuí, The Yellow Bittern. He read it out loud, the Irish words
coming back to him from the mists of distant childhood, the disinfectant reek
of the Sisters of Charity’s classroom. ‘A
bhonnán bhuí, is é mo léan do luí, Is do chnámha sínte tar éis do ghrinn, Is
chan easba bidh ach díobháil dí, a d'fhág i do luí thú ar chúl do chinn.’
Leila was laughing at him. ‘What are you saying?’
‘It’s Irish. Deir Na’ee gets that in Google. Christ
alone knows why.’
‘That is not a language. It sounds like dogs
fighting.’
‘Póg mo thóin.’
From Beirut -- An Explosive Thriller
Today brings a treat -- a guest post and quizzing from Micheline Hazou, patroness of genteel blog Mich Café, friend and Beirut wandering companion as well as beta reader of Beirut – An Explosive Thriller...
It is quite exciting to be a beta reader. It is also something I
take very seriously.
I had the privilege to beta-read Alexander McNabb’s first novel, Olives – A Violent Romance. I was even more flattered to be offered the chance to beta-read Beirut – An Explosive Thriller a couple of months ago.
I had the privilege to beta-read Alexander McNabb’s first novel, Olives – A Violent Romance. I was even more flattered to be offered the chance to beta-read Beirut – An Explosive Thriller a couple of months ago.
It’s not as easy as it seems, because you often get sucked up in
the story and forget to keep an eye out for anything that might be wrong, from
proofreading to translations and anything you don’t quite like. So I had to
re-read many a chapter with that in mind.
From the first few pages of Beirut I felt Alex
had come into his own. I got caught up in the “explosive” thriller and
rediscovered the main character, Gerald Lynch, in another light. Whereas he had
seemed pompous, uptight and unlikeable in Olives, here he is chasing the
bad guys with a conscience and sexy on top of it.
As with Olives, I was drawn by the local female
characters in the books. I can identify with them. And I wonder why they are so
disposable. As most of you have read Olives by now, you must know
Aisha Dajani’s fate. But Leila Medawar? Why, Alex?
As described in the book, Leila Medawar is the “student activist,
dissident, blogger and poet to the leftist anti-sectarian intelligentsia. Born
into wealth and privilege she was heartrendingly idealistic… beautiful dark
haired Leila, lover of freedom, equality and British spies. Well, spy.”
Without giving too much away, here are a few questions I would like to ask about Leila Medawar, Gerald Lynch’s lover:
Without giving too much away, here are a few questions I would like to ask about Leila Medawar, Gerald Lynch’s lover:
I like Leila Medawar. She humanizes Lynch. Why is she so
disposable? That's
partly why she's there. And partly it seals her fate. It's odd but I seem to
have this habit of killing the characters I love the most, from the delicious
Kylie in my first book, Space, through to a number of characters in Olives, Beirut and,
yes, Shemlan.
I often recall an incident involving The Niece From Hell. We were
on a walk along the Thames when I was pulled up by the realization I recognized
a particular bench on the towpath. ‘Wow,’ I exclaimed. ‘I killed a guy on this
bench!’
The niece glanced carelessly at the bench and shrugged.
‘Whatever.’
I know I am involved in murdering a number of attractive Arab
women, but don't take that personally -- I'm an equal opportunities killer. I
do for a number of occidental men in my books too. And some of them are quite
ugly.
On the bright side, it's probably a good thing I'm getting this
stuff out of my system. And anyway, there are a thousand and one Leilas...
I sound like I’m gabbling guiltily. I probably am.
How come she knew he was in Intelligence? It's how he met her -- when on a surveillance
job involving a student protest. In fact, that’s not mentioned until much later
in the book in the 'beta' MS but part of the feedback from readers made me
bring that history right up front.
Lynch isn't really very good at observing some of the traditional modalities of Intelligence, he's far too Arabized for that. Leila is very much into his 'home life'. They live a cocooned existence together -- she has his key, they keep their relationship secret (she leaves the room when Palmer comes from the embassy with Lynch's ticket because they have agreed discretion is the way to go for both of them) and Lynch knows who she is. She trusts him not to spy on her and he, I rather think, trusts her not to use her relationship with him in her activities.
Where is Leila’s family? How is it that she was able to live with Lynch, and then in the flat he provided her?
Lynch isn't really very good at observing some of the traditional modalities of Intelligence, he's far too Arabized for that. Leila is very much into his 'home life'. They live a cocooned existence together -- she has his key, they keep their relationship secret (she leaves the room when Palmer comes from the embassy with Lynch's ticket because they have agreed discretion is the way to go for both of them) and Lynch knows who she is. She trusts him not to spy on her and he, I rather think, trusts her not to use her relationship with him in her activities.
Where is Leila’s family? How is it that she was able to live with Lynch, and then in the flat he provided her?
She doesn't actually live with him, just has a key and comes
around a lot. He was hoping the flat in Hamra would be a bolt hole for them
both but was surprised by the strength of her reaction to the news he would be
shacking up with another spy type.
Her family is living in Dubai, as it happens -- but she's got away
with going back to Beirut to study at AUB. That gives her independence beyond
reason -- and the freedom to go out with a man over twice her age.
And no, it's not one of my secret fantasies sneaking into a book.
There's a certain journalist living in Ain Mreisse who might
be influencing some of Lynch's lifestyle...
What is the story of the Orrefors
tumbler? I've long
been a huge fan of Orrefors glass and have a number of those beautiful pieces
with the blue teardrop. It just seemed natural that it should sneak into
the book -- and tells us that Leila's moneyed, incidentally. That stuff's
hideously expensive.
Leila being particular about how she takes her whisky is a mannerism I stole from a rather lovely Lebanese friend...
Leila being particular about how she takes her whisky is a mannerism I stole from a rather lovely Lebanese friend...
I also let my personal preferences sneak in with the Lamiable
champagne later in the book, which is a stunning single grower extra brut -- a
hard champagne to make well as it has little or no 'dosage' and is therefore
incredibly dry. I have a nice chap called Charles who ships it to me in the UK.
One has a literary agent and a vintner, don't you know...
Why the choice of Proust? And which of his works was she reading? Remembrance of Things Past of course, silly! Probably The Prisoner,
a reflection of Lynch’s ardor for her mixed with a desire to control her,
perhaps why he offers her the flat in Hamra. Leila’s not Albertine, of course --
but she is enjoying casting herself in the role.
Leila is possibly reading it because she likes Proust, or because
she likes to be seen to be liking Proust -- that’s a very Lebanese
dilemma. She was reading it in the original French because, of course, she
speaks French like a native. And she likes to tell friends she finds the
Moncrieff translation sloppy.
Why did Lynch only try calling her? Why didn’t he go over to see
her? And why didn’t she have protection? He was scared of finding some ape from AUB in her bed. He was also
rather busy saving the world and flying to and from Europe. He talked to the
concierge, too, which just confirms his worst fears.
Lynch had checked with the concierge and yes, she moved in to the
flat in Hamra. Yes, she had indeed taken male company, the old crone told
Lynch, laughing dirtily and pocketing the fifty thousand lire tip.
There was no protection -- Lynch operates as a lone wolf most of
the time, he's not often part of the 'framework', but a maverick operator
Channing uses for the messy stuff. His approach to intelligence is 'go local,
go low-key' rather than bringing in the Keystone cops every time. It's one
reason why he prefers to use a servees rather than an embassy car.
Part of Lynch would also let her cool her heels, perhaps even be
angry at her and take an 'Youse know what? F youse too' approach to her flouncing
off like that. And yet she's under his skin. Not quite as much as Michel gets
under hers, though...
Does Lynch fall in love again in Shemlan? Please
say yes…
No, but Shemlan is very much a
love story -- although not a very straightforward one.
To find out how to get a copy of Beirut – An Explosive Thriller shipped to your doorstep or
downloaded instantly to your reader, please visit the Beirut website.
Related posts and reading:
“Olives” -- the book variety that is -- January 16, 2012
Alexander McNabb’s blog Fake Plastic Souks
The Olives website
