Egypt's Belle Epoque: Cairo and the Age of the Hedonists (Tauris Parke Paperbacks) - Softcover

'This is an enthralling account of a period in Egypt's history now too often forgotten. Trevor Mostyn brings to life a glittering near century which launched Cairo as one of the world's great cities.' - Lisa Appignanesi ' Egypt's Belle Epoquehas the immediacy of oral history. This narrative depicts with wit and elegance the grandeur and decadence of a not so distant past. Trevor Mostyn writes as if he was himself a witness to the extraordinary events.' - Moris Farhi "A teeming, vivid portrait of the pomp, lasciviousness and blood-soaked cruelty of a great culture at the crossroads of history. It cries out to be made into a film." Terence Blacker GUARDIAN, 'This riveting account of a now-vanished world brings to life the splendour and the decadence of a period in Egypt's history, which is too often forgotten. Written with wit and remarkable immediacy, it tells the tale of Cairo's transformation into the Paris of Africa under the auspices of the founder of modern Egypt. -Khedive Ismail.' GOOD BOOK GUIDE 'Mostyn brings to life a city of near overwhelming opulence, a Middle Eastern mirror image of its Western 'twin-city' Paris.' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT "Trevor Mostyn presents an enticing glimpse of a fascinating but often overlooked era of Egypt's recent history"

Egypt's Belle Epoque was a period of incredible extravagance during which the Khedive Ismail's Cairo became the mirror image, both architecturally and socially, of decadent Paris. The glamour and hedonism of the era reached its peak during the magnificent celebrations for the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. Kings and emperors, artists, writers and Europe's most sophisticated flocked to the dazzling new Cairo of sumptuous palaces and Parisian gardens, where glittering parties were held on the banks of the Nile and where Verdi's Aida would later premiere at the new opera house. But the splendour was short-lived. Only a year after the Suez Canal opened, the Second Empire in France collapsed and the Khedive's excesses plunged Egypt into crippling debt. Ismail was eventually forced to abdicate, leaving Cairo to the British who occupied Egypt in all but name.