'With the open sesame of language ready to hand, he suddenly began to find himself really penetrating a foreign country'

In Mountolive, the third volume in Durrell's The Alexandria Quartet, the events surrounding the interwoven community of Nessim, Justine, Narouz, Pursewarden and the other major characters are given a very different perspective. The intrigues and
complex relationships are seen through the political prism of a world plunging towards war. David Mountolive, once emotionally involved with Nessim's set, now returns to Egypt as the British ambassador...