Tamanrasset: Crossroads of the Nomad is a novel set at the beginning of the 20th Century on the fringes of the Sahara, when the people living on the edges of the desert did not know what was out there and when European nations were only the most recent world powers to exploit the region. It's the story of how four lives become entwined: A mature Foreign Legionnaire who has made his home in the harsh life of France's desert fortresses; the young Arab son of the Sharif that leads the tribes in the western Sahara fighting to protect his family; an ambitious American archeologist in charge of the excavations at Carthage; and a young Swedish widow in Fez who adopts Islam in order to earn a place for herself there. Each of them suffers a crisis which isolates them from their community, and it is only through the chance intersection of their lives that they become bound together and eventually influence a world that stands on the brink of extinction. Like his prior novels, particularly his trilogy of World War I adventures based on early espionage fiction, Edward Parr's Tamanrasset: Crossroads of the Nomad recalls the classic pulp fiction adventures of the French Foreign Legion while telling a new story that takes place against a backdrop of real historical events in Morocco and Algeria in the years 1900 to 1908. It's is a novel about loss and alienation and the fragile, often transitory bonds that tie people together. "Tamanrasset is a wonderfully written, highly descriptive adventure that will have readers breathing in the dust-laden air of the Sahara Desert. Author Edward Parr has created a multi-arced adventure that captures the imagination and carries readers along with twists and turns at a fantastic pace. What stands out is the deliberate and careful development of all four major characters in this adventure." Readers Favorite "Edward Parr's Tamanrasset: Crossroads of the Nomad is an ambitious and richly detailed historical novel that transports readers to North Africa at the dawn of the 20th century. Spanning Algeria, Morocco, and the vast Sahara, the book is steeped in the textures of the Maghreb, its landscapes, its cultural crossroads, and its violent collisions between European colonial powers and indigenous tribes. At 544 pages, this is no light read, but for those willing to invest in its sweeping narrative, it delivers a vivid and deeply immersive experience. ... In sum, Tamanrasset: Crossroads of the Nomad is both a grand saga and a meditation on what it means to survive, adapt, and hold onto one's identity in times of upheaval. Edward Parr has written a book that will linger with readers long after the final page, not because it offers simple answers, but because it so vividly evokes the complexities of a world at a crossroads." Scott Olson, Seattle Book Review The Origin of the Novel A few years ago I began looking at novels written in the early 1900's thinking to compliment the First World War trilogy I had previously written, and I immediately discovered the many terrific action-adventure stories written about the French Foreign Legion set in the tumultuous areas of northern Africa of that time period. While I was drawn to the format, I did not want to write anything pro-colonialist or anti-Muslim - biases which are deeply embedded in many of the stories written in that time period. Instead I wanted to write a novel based on the hard facts we now know, that colonialism was doom to failure, that generations of war would follow, that good guys were not all good, but the bad guys were also not so good. Research on that time period turned out to be pretty difficult. Much of the primary source materials are written in French, for example. I also knew that I wanted to include Muslim characters but I didn't think I could do so without a basic understanding of the practice of Islam. And then I had to figure out what drew me to the era and what events were relevant to the novel I wanted to write. It took me several years to prepare to begin writing, but I think all that preparation shows in the final result. Tamanrasset: Crossroads of the Nomad is my attempt to tell a story that reflects the amazing place and time of those classic pulp fiction stories but with the benefit of what we know now about what would happen there, treating all the characters and their beliefs with respect, and based on the actual events that occurred in that region. In the story, the lives of four protagonists become entwined: A mature Foreign Legionnaire who has made a home for himself in the harsh life of France's desert fortresses; the young Arab son of the Sharif that leads the tribes in the western Sahara fighting to protect their families; an ambitious American archeologist in charge of the excavations at Carthage; and a young Swedish widow in Fez who adopts Islam in order to earn a place for herself in the community there. Each of them suffers a crisis which isolates them - death, betrayal, murder and the strugg