Bøker av P. H. Newby

The setting of The Picnic at Sakkara, a delightful comedy, is Egypt in the days of King Farouk.

On landing the party is arrested by Lieutenant Mahmoud Yehia, one of the revolutionary officers, who eases but simultaneously complicates matters by falling instantly in love with Elaine. From this point the story develops unpredictably but in that delightful blend of comedy and drama of which P H Newby was an acknowledged master.

Justly beloved for the humour of its storytelling, Newby's comic novel nonetheless is woven with a seriousness of purpose, much of which derives from the author's own experiences in Egypt during the war.

Their intrusion into his life, and their effect on those close to him - his crippled sister, his shrewd mother and his impatient father - pushes Fred to consider the divided familial loyalties that crowd his life. Newby's wonderful third novel, the skill, understanding and sympathy of which recalls D.

Set on the island of Sankilos, Agents and Witnesses is the story of Pierre Bartas, a young French architect, whose interest is aroused by the arrival of his new neighbours, Madame Keats and her two daughters, Marthe and Anna.

On arrival as a medical orderly at Suez in 1941, Faulkes is surprised and alarmed to be greeted by a ghost from his family's past.

P.H. Newby's seventeenth novel Something To Answer For was assured of a place in literary history when it won the inaugural Booker Prize in 1969.It was 1956 and Townrow was in Port Said - of these two facts he is reasonably certain. He had been summoned by the widow of his deceased friend Elie Khoury. She is convinced Elie was murdered, but nobody seems to agree with her. What of Leah Strauss, the mistress? And of the invading British paratroops? Only an Englishman, surely, would take for granted that the British would have behaved themselves. In this disorientating world Townrow must reassess the rules by which he has been living his life - to wonder whether he, too, may have something to answer for?'Beautifully written, shot through with crisp, mordant wit, and Newby plays out his narrative with consummate skill.' Sam Jordison, Guardian