The Jerusalem Quartet

There are some authors who never achieve fame during their lifetime and unfortunately, remains largely obscure even after they have passed. And yet, proving that popularity does not necessary equal quality, these authors tend to be highly regarded; both by critics and those of us fortunate to be familiar with their works. One such author was the American Edward Whittemore.

By all accounts, Whittemore; who was born in 1933 and died in 1995, lived a rich and varied life, having, during his lifetime, occupied such varied positions as reporter, photocopy assistant, US marine officer and CIA agent. What he is most remembered for though (when he is remembered) is as a writer of novels.
Whittemore's bibliography consists of five novels. Out of these five, the first one: Quin's Shanghai Circus, is a stand-alone and the remaining four form a sequence called The Jerusalem Quartet (although a few of the characters in Shanghai Circus turn up in The Quartet as well). Its the latter which is the focus of this post.

In the first volume of The Quartet, titled Sinai Tapestry, Whittemore introduces the reader to a cast of memorable, larger-than-life characters:
Plantagenet Strongbow, the British explorer who becomes the secret owner of the entire Ottoman Empire during its twilight years. Joe O'Sullivan Beare, an Irish freedom-fighter who flees his country by disguising himself as a nun. Stern, son to Plantagenet Strongbow, who grows up with a dream of creating a country where the three religious groups of the Middle East: Moslems, Jews and Christians can live in harmony. Haj Harun, an old shop-keeper who claims to have defended the city of Jerusalem for more than 2000 years, always on the losing side. Because, as Harun himself puts it, when you are defending Jerusalem, you are always on the losing side.

These are not the only characters to populate the pages of this book, but they are the most important ones and so, I mention them here.

Although Sinai Tapestry is the most light-hearted and optimistic book in the series, its not without its dark moments. The Pivotal sequence of the novel is the Turkish army's massacre of Smyrna. An atrocious event which haunts the characters that get caught up in it for the remainder of their lives and which Whittemore describes in horrific detail.

Moving on to the next novel,  Jerusalem Poker. This volume, which may well be my personal favorite of The Jerusalem Quartet, revolves around a poker-game, with the entire Holy City at stake. The Main players in this high stakes game are Joe, Munk Szondi and Cairo Martyr, a character newly introduced in this volume. However, its not long until the game attracts the attention of certain sinister figures.

One notable aspect of the Jerusalem Quarter is that, as it draws closer to the present day (meaning the 1970's, in this case), the more fantastical elements become less and less prominent. This does not mean that the remaining books aren't up to the standards set by their predecessors, but they are different in tone, belonging more firmly in the realm of mystery and spy-fiction than the books before them. Volume no. 3, Nile Shadows takes place during World War 2 and opens with a hand-grenade being thrown into a bar and the investigation into the life of the only man killed in the explosion: Who wanted him dead and why?

Finally, we have Jericho Mosiac. With one single exception, this volume features none of the characters from the previous volume, choosing instead to introduce a completely new cast. At first, the reader may feel disappointed knowing that the characters they've come to know and care about during the course of this series are absent from its ultimate installment. However, the new characters soon prove themselves to be just as compelling as Joe, Harun and the others.
This final volume revolves around Halim, a Syrian businessman who returns to his homeland after having lived most of his life in Argentina. In Syria, Halim's likable personality soon earns him the friendships of several people in high circles. No-one suspects that this Syrian patriot is in fact, a deep-cover spy for the Mossad, operating under the code-name The Runner.

As a whole, The Jerusalem Quartet definitely ranks among my favorite works of literature and I recommend it strongly to everyone who is a fan of historical fiction, spy-fiction, magic realism or just great storytelling in general. Hopefully, this post has made at least some of you interested in checking it out, because it and Quin's Shanghai Circus, deserves to be more widely known.