The Corsair
SynopsisPlot
It's the early part of the nineteenth century and the Arabian Peninsula and the waters surrounding it are ablaze. Piracy in the Gulf threatens global maritime trade routes while the Wahabbi strain of Islam is conquering followers town by town across the region. Britain, eager to reinforce its presence in the Middle East and protect the East India Company's ships, has a plan: send a man-of-war from England to quash the pirates while persuading Egypt to join an international alliance with Oman and Persia to fight the Wahabbis. At the center of it, all lies a priceless Indian sword, a gift from the British monarch to the Egyptian Pasha.
Story
About this book
The Corsair opens in the early nineteenth century, when the Arabian Peninsula and the waters around it were caught in overlapping conflicts. Piracy in the Gulf threatened global shipping lanes, while the Wahhabi movement gained ground across the region, town by town. Britain, keen to protect East India Company vessels and its own standing in the Middle East, sent a warship to confront the pirates.
London also pushed for Egypt to join an alliance with Oman and Persia against the Wahhabis. At the centre of these maneuvers sits one object: an Indian sword of great value, meant as a royal British gift for the Egyptian Pasha. Abdulaziz Al-Mahmoud, a Qatari writer, uses this diplomatic errand to link characters across borders and loyalties.
The novel moves between courts, ships, and coastal settlements, following figures whose fates depend on decisions made far from their own shores. Its geography stretches from England to Egypt and on to the ports and desert towns of the Gulf, setting piracy, imperial rivalry, betrayal, and unexpected kinship in specific places.
