''Empires of Sand'' is a 1999 novel by American writer
David W. Ball. It tells the story of two cousins who grow up together in Paris but are separated during the
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
. The second half of the novel concerns their adventures in
French Algeria
French Algeria ( until 1839, then afterwards; unofficially ; ), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of History of Algeria, Algerian history when the country was a colony and later an integral part of France. French rule lasted until ...
, one cousin living with a
Tuareg tribe, the other a French lieutenant on the real-life
Flatters Expedition, an ill-fated mission initiated by the French government in 1881 to survey a railway route through the Hoggar region of the Sahara desert. Most of the expedition's members were slaughtered by the Tuareg.
Reviews
Reviews were generally positive.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
References
External links
Book page at author's site
Tuareg
1999 American novels
American historical novels
Novels set in France
Novels set in Algeria
Novels set in deserts
{{1990s-hist-novel-stub