Scorpion Sunset

Long Road to Baghdad #3

by Catrin Collier (Contributor)

The third novel in the Long Road to Baghdad series, a vivid, moving, historically accurate account of a conflict between Eastern and Western Empires.

Genres: Romance

476 pages, Paperback

Published June 18, 2015

About the author

Catrin Collier is Wales' most prolific and well-known author of historical, romantic fictions. The daughter of a Prussian refugee and Welsh father, she grew up in Pontypridd. Her first historical novel Hearts of Gold, was filmed as a mini-series by the BBC in 2003. Her crime book, By Any Name, written as Katherine John was filmed by Tanabi and released on Amazon Prime in 2017. She lives with her family on the Gower Peninsula, near Swansea. More information on Catrin Collier, Katherine John and Caro French's books can be found on her website www.catrincollier.co.uk

Reviews

[Anne Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I began reading this book a bit reluctantly, expecting some kind of romance using the first world war as a background theme. It did not take me long to understand how wrong I was. Yes, the book -like the two other ones, it's a trilogy, is set in 1916, on the southern eastern front, and it describes the atrocities committed mostly by the soldiers of the Ottoman Empire fighting the British Empire. Two super powers at the beginning of the XXth century, fighting relentlessly in trenches in Mesopotamia (Iraq, Syria, part of Turkey and Iran) changed the world history. The Ottoman Empire dies after the war, a British protectorate is created over Iraq, because of the oil, mostly, as announced in this book.
The details of the battles and prisoner camps are horrific. We all know more or less what happened on the Western front, but tend to forget what happened on the Eastern side. The war enabled Turkey to conceal more or less the Armenian genocide, not mentioned much in history books compared to the holocaust, and just as inhuman.
Here we meet officers, orderlies and privates, from the British troops, the ones who survived the siege of Kut. We get well acquainted with them, and wish they survive the war, although you know most won't make it.
Two kinds of lives are led in parallel, the lazy and comfortable ones of some British officers, safely tucked in Basra, including the infamous General Townshend, and the disastrous conditions of the POWs, mishandled by the Turks, famished and sick, forced to walk in the desert for no reason than kill them.
I was amazed to discover there are so far no reviews for this book, and very little on the two previous ones of the series. It is more than worth reading, because the author drags you in the trenches, in the awful hospitals of the time, in the desert with her characters and you feel you have shared some of the horrors they lived through with them. If you are like me, you probably have forgotten a lot about the Eastern front in WW1 and it gives your memories a much needed shake. How can we not remember what created the Middle East, directly linked to problems we hear about daily on tv, in the news? Iraq was created just after the war, under British control, for BP to get the oil. The British tried without success to do the same in Iran, but had to settle for he Pahlavi dynasty instead. Syria was under Ottoman control, too until the end of the war, then French mandate, and independence in 1946.
The lack of stability of the area today is linked directly to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, not replaced with any stable governments afterwards. Just for what it teaches us about today's history, those books are fascinating.

[Eric Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the final book in the series and largely portrays life as a POW in Turkey . Like the first two , the book is an easy read , well written with recurring characters and believable dialogue . Nevertheless I felt cheated . The last 2 years of WW1 are covered in around 50 pages . It seemed as though the author got tired of the story and only wanted to wrap it up quickly - content to kill off some important characters on the way. Overall the saga was very enjoyable and I learned much about this little known period of history in Mesopotamia . The inclusion of the total destruction of Christian Armenians by the Muslim Turks was obviously something Ms Collier felt strongly about and needed to blend into the storyline . Not a book for everyone , but well worth a read for those with a strong constitution and comfortable with the death of key figures.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book in this series full of emotions as you follow the ups and downs of the characters.

[Tina Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historical fiction at its best

I loved these books so much so I was badgering the Author, Catrin Collier, to write the follow up after reading Long Road to Baghdad. I was not disappointed. An epic tale of courage, suffering and love.

[Sheila Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

The whole trilogy was great.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and the other two in the trilogy. I will miss the characters now the books are finished!