A country slides into war. A marriage self-destructs.
Beirut, 1975.
New arrivals in the city, British couple Richard and Claire Devine fall under the spell of charismatic American journalist Lawrence Anderson and his captivating Palestinian girlfriend, Monique.
In those thrilling early days, even the outbreak of factional violence across the city feels exhilarating. The world is watching—but the four friends remain safe, expatriate observers of somebody else’s war.
As the fighting intensifies, so do their relationships and desires—until one of them feels betrayed.
In a moment their safety is shattered, their alliance broken.
And they discover that in civil war, there are no civilians.
The Foreign Aide is a psychological novel about the impact of war on those who believe themselves to be outside it. Although the story is fiction, the setting is real. Author Alan Miles arrived in Beirut at the same moment as his characters, and draws on the sights, sounds and atmosphere of the city during those extraordinary early months of conflict.
As one reader observed:
“Lebanon feels like a character in the book.”
Readers who enjoy internationally set novels by writers such as Graham Greene, John le Carré, William Boyd and Baalu Girma may find much to enjoy here.
