"All men dream, but not equally," wrote Lawrence of Arabia. "Those who dream at night awaken to find it vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men..." Reeling from the twin tragedies of the Great War and the influenza epidemic, diffident, 40-year-old teacher, Agnes Shanklin has come into a modest inheritance; enough to allow her to take the trip of a lifetime to Egypt and the Holy Land. But her arrival in Cairo coincides with an event that will change history. For it is 1921, and the Cairo Peace Conference will preside over nothing less than the creation of the modern Middle East. Neither a pawn nor a participant, Agnes becomes a welcome sounding board for the historic players - including Churchill, T. E. Lawrence and Lady Gertrude Bell - poised to invent the nations of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and so decide the fate of the Arab world. It also makes her unexpectedly attractive to the charismatic German spy, Karl Weilbacher.As Agnes observes the tumult and tensions of nation-building, she is drawn more and more deeply into geopolitical intrigue and towards a personal awakening. Both enlightening and entertaining, this compelling, passionately felt novel illuminates both the rich history of the Middle East and what lies behind today's headlines.

Mary Doria Russell is the author of the awards-winning The Sparrow, Children of God and A Thread of Grace. She lives in Cleveland, Ohio. For more information, visit www.marydoriarussell.info