Violence, bloody politics and mystery greet Hank on his arrival as an Aid worker in Egypt.
This novel, Red the Nile, Blue the Hills, is Richard Rathwell’s third. The protagonist is Hank Rousseau, an Aid worker who, initially posted in Egypt, faces a crisis when some of his staff members are killed in a car crash. Soon it becomes clear that other forces may be at work – could the Companions of Jihad movement be involved? What about the mysterious Swiss militant-feminist organization operating in the area? Could they be responsible for the recent unexplained disappearances of women? Could his staff secretly be active in these organizations? As
well as this, Hank is haunted by his recently deceased father, a former intelligence official with whom he never had a fulfilling relationship.
Richard worked in Egypt (as well as Ireland and Albania, where the later parts of the novel take place) and much of this novel and its events are taken from his direct experience. Richard's staff members
were killed. He did go on mad drives across the desert to bloody, holy cities. He did see the dog god on the side of the road one night as he fled from an Islamic militant organization bubbling over and killing policemen and foreigners in southern Egypt.
The novel is an original, literary work. It is a sumptuous, striking depiction of Egypt, the bloody politics of Aid and Islamist movements in the region and a riveting mystery, written by an author with many years of first-hand experience of all of this. It could in fact be all true.
About the author
Richard Rathwell was born in Ottawa in 1947. He attended High School in Oakville, Ontario where he won awards for public speaking, where his usual theme was political and literary utopias. His teachers found him oppositional.
Rathwell attended Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia for his honours degree where he was twice arrested protesting the nature of the university.
Following Canada, Richard lived in Ireland and was part of the Blue Apple rural writing collective. He won national awards in Ireland for short story writing and poetry. He worked as a journalist for the Kilkenny Phoenix and as a castle warden. He soon left Ireland for Nigeria.
Rathwell has taught literature in schools in Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Lesotho as well as in Ireland. He was a tutor at Simon Fraser University and the University of Victoria. He has won awards for children’s drama productions and writing in Nigeria and Zimbabwe. He was later invited to advise the World Bank. He has also worked as an expert adviser to the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Rathwell’s career before he became a writer was, for an extended period of time, as a country director or executive for Aid organisations. This service took place initially in Nigeria, Lesotho and Egypt.There is a street in Gulu which may still bear his name, and a tree in India. During a period of absolute monarchy in Lesotho Rathwell was director of King Moshoeshoe II's social organisation.
Richard’s aid work is the basis of two of his novels. His experiences as an ‘exile’ serve as the basis of some of his other works. He presently resides in London, UK.
