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Copyright

This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

This paperback edition 2011

First published in Great Britain by

Century in 1992

Copyright © Len Deighton 1992

Introduction copyright © Pluriform Publishing Company BV 2011

Cover designer’s note © Arnold Schwartzman 2011

Len Deighton asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

CITY OF GOLD. Copyright © Len Deighton 1992. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Source ISBN: 9780007385843

Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2011 ISBN: 9780007450848

Version: 2017-08-10

Epigraph

They say that the sergeant’s a very nice chap,

Oh what a tale to tell.

Ask him for leave on a Saturday night –

He’ll pay your fare home as well.

There’s many a soldier has blighted his life

Thro’ writing rude words on the wall,

You’ll get no promotion this side of the ocean,

So cheer up, my lads. Bless ’em all!

Trooping song

Contents

Copyright

Epigraph

Cover designer’s note

Prompted by seeing the renderings of my two murals for…

Introduction

Picture me, a scruffy tourist in bush shirt and slacks,…

Prologue

In the final months of 1941, General Erwin Rommel –…

1

‘I like escorting prisoners,’ said Captain Albert Cutler, settling back…

2

The region called El Birkeh, where so many of Cairo’s…

3

At Cairo the water of the Nile divides to make…

4

They’d given Jimmy Ross his predecessor’s quarters. He was in…

5

Having finished her shift at the Base Hospital, Peggy West…

6

Peggy’s fears, about taking Alice Stanhope to the Base Hospital,…

7

No one claimed to remember when or where or why…

8

To the casual observer, the soldiers seemed to belong here.

9

‘I like them. I think those two are the nicest…

10

‘Did you hear that it rained in the desert?’ said…

11

‘The balloon’s gone up,’ said Lionel Marker as he pressed…

12

Bab-el-Hadid barracks was a curious-looking, three-storey structure, built to look…

13

Alice Stanhope had learned to drive her father’s four-litre Brough…

14

Harry Wechsler had been thinking about Alice Stanhope right up…

15

This was a different world. In this strip of desert…