The novel “Felaheen” by Jon Courtenay Grimwood was published for the first time in 2003. It’s the third novel in the Arabesk trilogy and is the sequel to “Effendi“.
Ashraf (Raf) al-Mansur is in a complex situation after having renounced important positions in El Iskandryia (Alexandria of Egypt), in the Ottoman Empire. As if this weren’t enough, an attempt is made to kill the Emir of Tunis, who is officially Raf’s father even if he never met him.
The head of the Emir’s security asks Raf to help her find out attempted assassination’s perpetrator but he doesn’t believe that he’s really his father and doesn’t want to get involved. However, he ends up being attracted to the events in Tunis but investigates them his own way and that forces him to deal with himself by exploring his identity’s various faces.
The Arabesk trilogy is a ucronia in which the war that broke out in 1914 didn’t turn into World War I but ended in 1915. One of the consequences of the limited war is that Germany remained a great power and the Ottoman Empire never collapsed.
The events of “Felaheen” begin immediately after those of “Effendi” with the protagonist struggling especially with personal problems. He doesn’t need to add more of them when Eugenie de la Croix, the Emir of Tunis’s head of security, asks for his help in uncovering the truth behind an assassination attempt. The heir to the throne Kashif Pasha claims that a rebel group is responsible but she’s not convinced.
The meeting of Ashraf Bey with Eugenie de la Croix is crucial because the woman tells him that she can prove that the Emir is really his father and that she was present in the period when he had a love story with Raf’s mother. She also shows him a photo that portrays the two of them but together with them there’s also another man, the one that Raf has always believed was his father because that’s what his mother always claimed.
Basically, an ambiguous element is introduced, but that’s far from surprising because in the course of the trilogy Jon Courtenay Grimwood often played with ambiguities by providing pieces of truth about various mysteries, typically around the protagonist, that can deceive the reader. Raf is a mystery even for himself and “Felaheen” is in some ways the most introspective book of the trilogy because the protagonist has to face the mysteries of his mind.
Raf’s trip to Tunis to investigate the attack to kill the Emir becomes above all an inner journey in which he tries to understand who he really is in a situation in which he’s not always in control of himself. Basically, the investigation of the attack is an excuse to develop certain elements of the novel connected to its protagonist.
It’s not the first time that Jon Courtenay Grimwood uses the plot at least partially as a foundation to tell especially something about the characters and their relationships. The consequence is that some parts of the whole trilogy that are supposed be important end up being hastily concluded.
In “Felaheen” the result is that Jon Courtenay Grimwood neglects some characters, especially Zara, and in the network of relationships the one between Raf and his half-brother Kashif Pasha is superficial. The author chose to develop above all Murad, the Emir’s youngest son, and to give more space to Hani, Raf’s niece, who grew up in an environment that’s far from normal.
Hani had her moments throughout the Arabesk trilogy but in “Felaheen” there’s one at the beginning that sums up her character perfectly. She starts an intelligence test but gets stuck on a question because she thinks it’s a trick question with the consequence that she ends up completely failing it. When, to her surprise, she’s told that there are no tricky questions, she retakes the test and gets spectacular results.
The well-developed characters are certainly the strong element of the whole trilogy along with its setting. The Ottoman empire of this ucronia is fascinating and vivid in the author’s descriptions of North African cities where there are many different ethnic groups, including many Europeans from various nations.
At the end of the trilogy, Jon Courtenay Grimwood offers some revelations with some surprises but there are still ambiguities and points that far from clear. It’s a big picture with the story of a complex character at its center that has no real conclusion. Personally I don’t feel the need to have complete explanations but perhaps the author exaggerated with his misdirections and half-truths.
One could say that Jon Courtenay Grimwood finished the Arabesk trilogy the same way he started it and that the ambiguities are an integral part of it. Reading the three books in a short time can help you not get lost among the complexities of a series that has truly intriguing elements. If you’re interested in its themes I recommend reading it all.
