City of the Sun

I am always grateful for the opportunity to review a book before the general public has the chance. I am even more pleased when the work turns out to be a book that will surely be discussed for quite a while and has the political relevance of Juliana Maio’s City of the Sun.

As with any good piece of historical fiction, there was a lot of research put into the background of the story and many historical figures are introduced. I was surprised to learn that there was once a thriving Jewish community in Egypt, a fact central to the story.

There is a little something here for everyone: it is a war story, it has a strong romantic element, it is historical fiction and it is an action / adventure / spy novel. Normally this is a recipe for show more disaster, trying to add too many ingredients, but City of the Sun succeeds in bringing it altogether in a cohesive fashion. The adventure flows, like the Nile, the dialog is believable and the major historical points are verifiable.

There is one flaw, however, that caused me a lot of grief in writing my review. One of the few incorrect details, at least as far as I know of, concerns a reference to a handgun, the Walther PPK. One of the main characters is given the gun to protect themselves and after receiving the gun, according to the narrative, he proceeds to open the cylinder to check to see if it is loaded, spin the cylinder and close the weapon. The Walther PPK is not a revolver, but rather it is a semiautomatic handgun and has a magazine in the handle as is typical of this class of handgun. While this is of no consequence as far as the plot goes, I found this unforgivable. That one flaw bothered me enough I can’t give the book full marks.

City of the Sun is still an outstanding read and I am going to award it a solid four stars. Highly suggested for lovers of historical fiction, readers of Judaic history and people interested in Middle East politics. As for romance novel readers, there is a love story, but it is not the focus of the story. show less

"Cairo during the war was what Casablanca had been mythologized as in the eponymous Humphrey Bogart film--a romantic desert crossroads of the world, of spies and soldiers and cares and casbahs and women with pasts and men with futures . . ." (William Stadiem). So begins the epigram to Maio's thriller, her first book. She picked this less well-trodden geography and a pivotal time--1941--as her setting, which she puts across convincingly. Rommel threatens the city from a rapidly diminishing distance and the Muslim Brotherhood and a group of dissident Egyptian Army officers threatens from within. The plot nicely lays out the tensions of the time, as a brash and ambitious American journalist is recruited to find a missing scientist and a show more young Jewish refugee and her family seek anonymity in the city's large and complacent Jewish community. The book has good action, which occasionally stops for a lecture on history or culture, information that could be more artfully woven in. This is Maio's first novel and the reader has to overlook some beginner errors, relying on cliches, secondary characters too thinly drawn, and instead of "said," in one randomly selected two-page spread, she uses rasped, inquired, answered, replied, reiterated, corrected, flattered, replied, gushed, blushed, paused, and started. The strength of her dialog should make all that clear. She covers herself for the one huge coincidence in the plot by saying, repeatedly and in different ways, "Cairo is like a small town. Sooner or later you run into everyone." Inserting a fictional character at the center of action involving real-life people can be tricky, and Maio handles it well. Look for more good work from this new writer. show less

Author Juliana Maio presents us in "City of the Sun" with a gratifying bit of what Alan Furst calls “near history.” With vivid, urgent scenes of World War II Cairo, Ms. Maio portrays the struggle of the Jews in that city in the early days of the war. She lays over this a reasonably effective romance, which serves as the centerpiece to this novel, and the whole works rather well.

Maya Blumenthal, her father, and her brother Erik have fled Paris in 1941, having first flown from Nazi Germany before that. Cairo is an unusual refuge for displaced Jews at the time, many of whom at this point wind up in Britain. But the Blumenthals have relations in Cairo, and it is at least a good temporary shelter. But Erik isn’t just another Jewish show more refugee. He’s an advanced physicist whose latest paper has drawn the attention of the Americans and the Germans. Both want his expertise for their weapons programs. Enter Mickey Connolly, a brash American journalist who in the course of things is recruited by “Wild Bill” Donovan into espionage, specifically the “acquisition” of young Erik Blumenthal.

Ms. Maio’s makes it her mission here to educate her readers about wartime Cairo and its pivotal role in the changed and changing Middle East. This she does through conversations of people in the know and official pronouncements and events, and she does it superbly. It was a great education for me – I had never been exposed to the history before, in spite of my own father’s service in the Army Air Corps at the time. She spices up the telling with two sure bets, an espionage thriller and a romance. And, surprisingly, she handles both with assurance, delivering believability and a couple of really magic scenes.

This is a highly diverting and educating piece, and I recommend it. It’s solid history delivered with multi-faceted appeal.

http://bassoprofundo1.blogspot.com/2014/04/city-of-sun-by-juliana-maio.html show less

It's 1941 and Rommel's Afrika Corps are bearing down on Cairo. The city is on edge, some of them hoping the Nazis will expel the British who control Egypt, others anxiously waiting for the Allies to stop their advance. Mickey Connelly is an intrepid young reporter out to make his mark in war-time Cairo. Maya is a Jewish refugee, come to Cairo with her father and brother Erik, who happens to be a nuclear scientist in hiding and being sought by the Germans and the British. Mickey is co-opted by the American embassy and the seeds of what will become the American intelligence community to find Erik. He becomes enamored of Maya, not knowing that Erik is her brother.

City of the Sun by Juliana Maio is set in WWII-era Cairo and features a wide show more variety of intriguing and historical characters and organizations. Maio's painstaking research into the history of Cairo during World War II shines through, and in particular the history of the Jews in Cairo (during the war, hundreds of thousands of Jews made their home their). We see the fledgling Muslim Brotherhood taking root and trying to expel the British. We see a young Anwar Sadat, somewhat unwillingly aligning himself with the Brotherhood in order to reclaim Egypt. Those of us who know Sadat from his Nobel Peace Prize and peace with Israel will be surprised to see him collaborating with the Nazis in order to expel the British. A variety of other historical characters make their appearance, including Wild Bill Donovan, the father of the OSS and eventually the CIA, and King Farouk, the boy king of Egypt.

The hunt for Erik and the budding romance between Mickey and Maya are enjoyable and move the novel forward quickly. But it's clear the real star of City of the Sun is Cairo itself, painted in atmospheric and nostalgic colors. For example, Mickey attends a party at the swanky and cosmopolitan Continental Hotel, and:

He stepped out of the elevator and stood breathless at the sight of the colonial Eden in front of him. The rooftop had been converted into a garden lush with foliage, where guests dined at immaculately set white-linen draped tables. The sun was setting over the many domes and minarets of the city's medieval district, illuminating Al Azhar, the grandest mosque of them all, with a halo and bathing the terrace in an orange glow. Waiters drifted by carrying martinis and platters of hors d'oeuvres accompanied by the soft sound of a flute being played in some unseen corner, while suffragis scurried to light the candies that adorned each table. As the sky darkened, hundreds of fairy lights entwined in the foliage sprang to life, providing a chorus of "Ahhs" from the admiring guests. Mickey joined them, transported to another world - a glamorous, exotic oasis far away from the harsh reality of the war.

City of the Sun is great fun and a wonderful introduction to the history of Cairo and the early formation of today's modern Egypt, and the history of the Jews in Egypt at that time. In tone, the book veers towards a historical romance - Mickey and Maya are adorable, although as characters they have no real flaws that move the plot. This is a solid first novel from Maio and I'd look forward to reading more. I'd welcome more conflict arising from character flaws of the protagonists. In contrast, I was also reading at the same time another WWII-era book, All That Is by James Salter. While it's more than a little unfair to compare Maio's first work to a grand master like Salter, the prose in All That Is effortlessly renders Philip Bowman, complete with all his flaws that drive him forward.

City of the Sun is a quick, effortless read and will be enjoyed by those interested in history, particularly of Cairo and Egypt during the war, or by those looking for a fun, historical romance. If Indiana Jones adventures or Casablanca appeal to you, you'll love City of the Sun.

(I received a copy of City of the Sun through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program) show less

This was a wonderful historical fiction novel about life in Egypt during WWII.
In Cairo, journalist Mickey Connelly writes articles no one will publish. The Brits want to throw him out of the country, but he meets Bill Donavan the head of the OSS and becomes a spy for the OSS and must find a Jewish scientist, the Americans need him to help build a bomb to end the war. He first meets the sister Maya and not knowing who she is pursues her and falls in love. How will it all end? Read City of the Sun to find out.
This was a well developed suspenseful and well developed characters, I loved it.
Thanks to Net Galley and Greenleaf Book Group.

I read this book in three nights. It would have been two, but late in the second night the story came to a screeching halt while our protaganists took time out for a two-three page sex fest. Not that I object to sex in a story, when it is part of the story, in this case it was totally inappropriate. The next night (mine, not the book's) the story picked up again and I finished it, satisfied with the rest of the book. The story is set in an exciting place and time in history and the author conved this very well. A very good first effort, but hopefully the author will keep her mind on the story without wandering away from the characters she has created. I do look forward to her next effert, I hope then, to write an all positive review.

I requested this book from NetGalley because it is based on my two favorite reading topis -- the Middle East and Judaism. It is wartime Cairo, 1941. There is a mix of refugees, British soldiers, and spies in Cairo at this time. The Nazis are moving toward northern Africa. Hitler is becoming a bedfellow with the Muslim Brotherhood. Mickey Connolly is in Cairo to report on the current status of the war. However, he is secretly trying to get information on a refugee nuclear scientist (Eric Blumenthal). America wants to build the "big bomb" and Blumenthal could be the key to making that happen. The Nazis are also looking for him. There's romance when Connolly becomes involved with Maya, who unknown to him is Blumenthal's sister. Maio writes show more the story in such a way that I could easily visualize like in Cairo at that time. Most people are not aware of the intricacies of life in places like Cairo and Istanbul during this time period. There's the elaborate parties, the espionage, the sense of constant danger. Maio captured the atmosphere and made it real for me. show less