
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
In a sun‑baked nook of the Little Atlas, a small oasis of olive trees and tethered horses offers a rare pocket of stillness far from the bustle of nearby Blidah. Here, Dr. William Chalmers lies half‑asleep beneath his battered sun‑helmet, while his sharp‑tongued wife, Mrs. Chalmers, debates marriage and loneliness with the affable Major Meredith, a retired soldier with a penchant for dry humor. Their banter, set against the desert’s golden heat, hints at years of exile, hidden regrets, and a network of acquaintances whose lives intersect in unexpected ways.
As the afternoon drifts lazily onward, the group’s conversation turns to the enigmatic Lady Geradine, a shy noblewoman whose marriage has become a source of quiet sorrow. The characters each carry a personal stake—whether it be unspoken affection, a sense of duty, or the yearning for redemption—that promises to pull them into a tangled web of choices. Listeners are invited to follow their tentative steps toward healing, love, and perhaps a chance to mend the fractures that have long haunted the desert’s silent stones.
Language
en
Duration
~8 hours (477K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Marcia Brooks, Alex White & the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net
Release date
2019-04-03
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1880–1947
Best known for the wildly popular novel The Sheik, this British romance writer helped spark a lasting fascination with desert-set love stories. Her books mixed adventure, intensity, and faraway settings in a way that captivated huge numbers of readers in the 1920s.
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