Introduction

Set in Tunisia and France in 1935, Dido's Crown is a taut historical adventure influenced by Indiana Jones, The Thin Man, and John le Carré.

Mary Wilson MacPherson has always been adept at putting the past behind her: her father's death, her sister's disappearance, and her complicated relationship with childhood friends Tom and Will. But that all changes when, traveling to North Africa on business for her husband, Mary meets a handsome French-Tunisian trader who holds a mysterious package her husband has purchased -- a package which has drawn the interest not only of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, but the Nazis as well.

When Tom and Will arrive in Tunisia, Mary suddenly finds herself on a race across the mesmerizing and ever-changing landscapes of the country, to the shores of southern France, and all across the wide blue Mediterranean. Despite her best efforts at distancing herself from her husband's world, Mary has become embroiled in a mystery that could threaten not only Tunisian and British security in the dangerous political landscape of 1935, but Mary's beliefs about her past and the security of her own future.

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Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE
TUNISIA
MAY 1935


Everything in the ancient port town of Bizerte dazzled: the white stuccoed buildings, the shimmering golden sand, the bleached sails of the dhows, the shocking turquoise of the Mediterranean. Shielding their eyes against the brilliance, Tom Harris and Will Simpson, Englishmen edging inexorably and uncomfortably into middle age, fanned their rapidly pinking faces with their hats. Standing together on a sweeping balcony, very close but not quite touching, they watched the dhows glide lazily in the distance. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. Mary is relatively independent for a woman in the 1930s, but she's surrounded by men. What accommodations do you think she made to fit in with the men in her world?

2. All of the characters have a secret; how has keeping that secret changed them? How has it helped or hurt them in the mission they're on in Dido's Crown?

3. What challenges do you think Alain faced growing up mixed-race in a colonial society?

4. Tunisia is a character of its own in Dido's Crown. How do you feel the landscape and country affected the other characters?

5. How are Mary's motivations different from her sister's? Are they different?

6. What parallels do you see between 1935 and 2016?

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