The Mistress of Nothing (32 page)

I slip away. Back into Cairo. But as I leave the vast cemetery with the dead in their multitude, I see Omar’s father, making his way through the graves. And with him, Abdullah. Before I can call out, my boy sees me. And he runs towards me, his arms open, smiling.

WHILE LUCIE DUFF GORDON’S STORY IS WELL KNOWN AND MUCH
celebrated, primarily through her wonderful book
Letters from Egypt,
which has been in print almost continuously since it was published in 1865, next to nothing is known about the life of her dragoman, Omar Abu Halaweh, and even less about her maid, Sally Naldrett.

I first came across the story of Sally and Omar when I read Katherine Frank’s excellent biography,
Lucie Duff Gordon: A Passage to Egypt,
in 1995. Through a mutual friend, I met Katherine Frank, who was generous and supportive towards my efforts to write a novel about Sally Naldrett, answering many of my questions, and lending me her copy of Edward Lane’s somewhat notorious
Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians,
which I still have and still intend to return. My thanks to her.

This novel has taken me many years to write. In 1998 the Author’s Foundation gave me a research grant to travel to Egypt. From 2001 to 2007, the Royal Literary Fund awarded me a series of Fellowships, providing financial support that was indispensable to my survival as a writer. And my agents, Rachel Calder and Anne McDermid, have stuck by me, through times more thin than thick. Thanks also to Simon Mellor and Sue Thomas, and my excellent first readers Aamer Hussein, Marilee Sigal, and Lesley Bryce, and Ruthie Petrie for her good editor’s eye. Thanks also to Youssif Omar, who attempted to teach me some Arabic.

The Mistress of Nothing
is based on a true story. I’ve altered the timescale to suit my purposes and have telescoped two years, 1863—65, down to one, and reduced Lucie Duff Gordon’s two trips home to one, while Omar Abu Halaweh and his family lived in Alexandria, not Cairo. For the Arabic transliterations, I’ve used Lucie Duff Gordon’s own spellings as well as more standard transliterations. All other untruths, fabrications, and mistakes in this novel are mine as well. The quotes from the letters by Lucie Duff Gordon are from
Letters from Egypt.