A novel history of Egypt The Photographers Wife by Robert Sole 1996 312pg

The Photographers Wife by Robert Sole 1996 312pg written in French        31/5/19

This is an extraordinary novel in that it gives the historic backround  to Egypt in this period, with well researched facts.
Milo Touta meets Dora on vacation at the beach in Alexandria and the marry and live in Cairo in 1891.They were both Syrian Christians living in Egypt.  Dora was an artist and Milo askes her to colour some of the portraits. At first she rejects the idea but as she has little else to do takes it up. She reads up all she can of photography, starts on landscapes. These families Syrian Christian, Aramaic speakers and took on French rather than Arabic at the time.
Napoleon set up French rule in Egypt but not Upper Egypt 1798 to 1801.  In 1882 the British took control there. Whereas French language and culture was looked up to the British and English language were not.
1867 to 1914 Khedivate of Ottomans (viceroy) Taxes were paid to Turkey.
1805 to 1848 Mohommad Ali
1879 to1892  Tewfiq. British came in to keep him in power against rebels. Died of renal failure.
In late 1895 Oresto Baratieri led a force of 20,000 Italian troops and Eritrean Ascari are overwhelmed by Ethiopian forces.
The book teaches us about photography at its early stages and why photos were always posed.
1892 till 1914 Abbas HilmeII educated in Vienna. On a tour the young Khedive said that the Egyptian army parade was a disgrace and Kitchener threatened to resign as a result, the Khedive made a apology and the problem was solved. Sir Evelyn Baring - Earl of Cromer was the British Consul.
Gordon had been sent to evacuate Kartumn but got their too late and made a 9 month stand and was defeated as reinforcement never arrived. The Mahdi ruled Sudan and they discus that Britain will have to take over there as a foreign power there can control the Nile. Sir Reginald Wingate a Scot, fought there. Orde Wingate was a cousin once removed of his.
You had the British Army and the Army of Occupation controlled by the British.
Rudolf Slatin an Austrian who fought for Britain in Sudan and surrendered to the Mahdi in1883 and escaped in 1995.got title Slatin Pasha and fought under Kitchener against the Mahdi. He wrote a book on these 12 years.
1894=1896  Hamidian  Massacres.  Under Sultan Abdul Hamid ll mainly Armenians but also Assyrians and other Christians were   massacred by the Ottomans in Turkey.
1894 Dreyfus  trial is talked about.
 1895      Tram system installed in Cairo by a Belgium company.
Railway track build in Sudan by the British to join the 2 loops of the Nile to bring supplies for war against the Mahdi. Locals who are in clans against  the Mahdi are hired and slave girls are found them as wives. British slowly work along and destroy the Dervishes.
1898 Captain Jean Batiste Marchant with 20 French officers and 130 Senegalese troops -the Fashado incident. Kitchener arrived with 5 ships of troops and the French had to back down. France was very preoccupied  in the Dreyfus scandal and they were already worried about Germany.
Dora becomes a superb photographer and the business begins to flourish she has 3 daughters but her role as a professional women is problematic. His family have an annual photo together and he takes one then she does - her less formal one is far better. A portrait of hers is entered in a Paris competition and wins. Dora manages to get a picture of Nonna  (Milo's mother) and she likes it. The Kedive  sends a message for them and they take his photo and are allowed to market it. Then Lord Cromer the Consul (the real ruler of Egypt) invites her to take his photo which surprisingly they manage to market.
Milo feels overshadowed by his successful wife.  She has a friend Isis who is French woman doctor and they have a lot in common. Miro now has a mistress a French woman.
Milo comes home drunk they have an argument and she takes the girls to her family and she takes the job that she been offered previously  as a photographer of  the Semaphore to report on Sudan. Kitchener has gone south to fight the Boer War and Reginald Wingate is  in charge. Her friend William is in the Sudan and she meets up  with him. Her pictures are seen in the Cairo press. Nonna the family matriarch dies. The book ending is not clear, but Milo and Dora really did love each other
We read that Khartoum was destroyed when Gordon was defeated in 1883. Across the river at Omdurman the Mahdi set up his capital where he died. Kitchener had to destroy his tomb otherwise he would have been considered scared of the dead Mahdi.  The British redesigned Khartoum and Syrian and Greek merchants were already there.    Wingate took over as Governor of Sudan.
In Paris the Metro is opened 1900 for the Paris World  Fair