Colin Thubron for Passage

The story of a long-simmering love triangle set in egypt's valley of the kings, from the booker-longlisted novelist and travel writer._She was standing at the boat's prow.

He thought: this is how I will remember her, looking into the wind, serene.

This will outlast whatever is to come._Kathleen lies awake in the operating theatre as she undergoes brain surgery, her husband Robert watching.

Soon afterwards, the couple leave for an ill-advised holiday in Egypt, together with the third person in their marriage, Robert's brother Alan.

Each of them is aware that the tumour in Kathleen's brain may be fatal.For her, an actor, the trauma of her operation brings a haunting sense of the frailty of her identity.

Her descent along the ancient Egyptian tomb corridors – symbols of the passage beyond death – evokes a fevered elation.Ashraf, their Egyptian guide, is compulsively drawn to her, even as he is caught up in the conflicted politics of his country.

As each character struggles with the weight of the past and the uncertainty of the future, the mounting tension resolves in delusion – and a shattering betrayal.In taut, shimmering prose, Colin Thubron shifts among the perspectives of the four protagonists in a narrative of mesmerising scope and power.'One of our greatest prose writers in any genre' WILLIAM DALYRYMPLE'This short, breathtakingly hypnotic novel held me in its grip until the very last word' MIRANDA SEYMOURCOLIN THUBRON is a celebrated travel writer, winner of many prizes and awards.

His classic travel books include _Among the Russians_ [https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/books/colin-thubron/among-the-russians/9780099459293/], _Behind the Wall_ [https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/books/colin-thubron/behind-the-wall/9780099459323/], _In Siberia_ [https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/books/colin-thubron/in-siberia/9780099459262/] and _Shadow of the Silk Road_ [https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/books/colin-thubron/shadow-of-the-silk-road/9780099437222/].

He is also the author of eight acclaimed works of fiction, including the award-winning _A Cruel Madness_ [https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/books/colin-thubron/a-cruel-madness/9780099437192/], the Booker Prize-longlisted _To the Last City_ [https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/books/colin-thubron/to-the-last-city/9780099437239/] and _Night of Fire_ [https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/books/colin-thubron/night-of-fire/9780099532651/]. _Passage_ is his ninth novel.