The Foreign Aide
A psychological thriller set in 1970s Beirut
PLACE YOUR ORDER TODAY IN THE MILES POSTS BOOKSTORE.
Available in four editions: eBook, paperback, hardback, and audiobook.
Special August offer for the audiobook. Order an ebook or printed copy of The Foreign Aide from my Bookstore in August, and I’ll send you a voucher entitling you to a free copy of the audiobook (saving £12.98). More details — and a 5-minute sample of the audiobook — in the Bookstore.
The Opening Chapters
Question
Scene-setting. What does ‘nationality’ really mean? Are you born with it, or can it be claimed? Would you fight for your country?
Rooster
Our 4 main characters meet. Privately, Monique shows Richard her secret talent, which leaves him lost for words.
Explosion
Dinner at Lawrence’s is interrupted by news of a serious incident in the Beirut suburbs … and then by an explosion.
Marriage
The backstory of Richard and Claire’s relationship and their life in London. Their marriage is solid … or is it?
Skirmishes
Trouble at home. Trouble in the classroom. We meet Dave, who shows Richard how to sort out a fight.
Militia
Dangerous times for Richard and Monique — in more ways than one — as the war approaches.
Cancer
Lawrence gives a history lesson, and stuns Richard with a secret. Meanwhile horrifying violence is breaking out in Beirut’s suburbs. Will Richard and Claire’s apartment be safe?
In brief ...
A country slides into war. A marriage self-destructs.
Beirut, 1975.
New arrivals in the city, British couple Richard and Claire Devine fall under the spell of charismatic American journalist Lawrence Anderson and his captivating Palestinian girlfriend, Monique.
In those thrilling early days, even the outbreak of factional violence across the city feels exhilarating. The world is watching—but the four friends remain safe, expatriate observers of somebody else’s war.
As the fighting intensifies, so do their relationships and desires—until one of them feels betrayed.
In a moment their safety is shattered, their alliance broken.
And they discover that in civil war, there are no civilians.
————
The Foreign Aide is a psychological novel about the impact of war on those who believe themselves to be outside it. Although the story is fiction, the setting is real. Author Alan Miles arrived in Beirut at the same moment as his characters, and draws on the sights, sounds and atmosphere of the city during those extraordinary early months of conflict.
As one reader observed: “Lebanon feels like a character in the book.”
Readers who enjoy internationally-set novels by writers such as Graham Greene, John le Carré and William Boyd will feel right at home here.
————
Trigger warnings: This is an adult book with some sexual scenes. There are also descriptions of war and the damage it causes to people and property. None of this is gratuitous; in every case it is essential to the story.