Kit ends up at a convent hospital, disoriented and nearly insane, and the French authorities arrange for her to be flown back to Oran. She is rescued by a kindly Arab named Amar, and they briefly become lovers. Fearing that the servants are poisoning her, Kit escapes and wanders into the market, where she is nearly attacked by the crowd. Belqassim and Kit perform a marriage ceremony, and their affair continues, though Kit is violently abused by other members of the household when he is absent.
Kit submits completely to the younger man, Belqassim, who dresses her as a boy and brings her to his house, where he keeps her as a captive. The men force her to have sex with them repeatedly over several weeks. She meets a caravan of Arab men, who pick her up and continue their journey into the Sudan desert.
As news of Kit’s disappearance and Port’s death spreads in Sbâ, Kit wanders out into the desert. Kit returns and discovers Port’s body, then leaves without telling Tunner, taking shelter for the night with a Jewish shopkeeper and his wife. Tunner arrives in Sbâ and Kit rushes into the town to meet his car, while Port dies alone in the room. Port is diagnosed with typhoid and Kit spends several anxious nights nursing him. Port and Kit travel on the back of a freight truck to Sbâ, where they find shelter with the French Foreign Legion. With the help of a young Arab man, Kit tries to find rooms at a hotel in El Ga’a, but they are turned away for fear that Port’s illness is contagious. He persuades Kit to travel to El Ga’a, further into the desert, so as to avoid Tunner’s arrival. The Moresbys arrive in Aïn Krorfa where Port discovers that his passport is missing, and concludes that Eric must have been the thief. Port arranges for Tunner to travel with the Lyles, so that he can travel alone with Kit. The Lyles announce they are leaving for Aïn Krorfa. Kit, wracked with guilt, conceals the affair from Port, while Port tries unsuccessfully to rekindle his sexual feelings for Kit. Kit and Tunner follow by train, and after a long and uncomfortable journey, finally sleep together when they reach the hotel. Eric asks Port if he can borrow money, and Port arranges to travel to Boussif with the Lyles in their car. The Moresbys meet the monstrous Mrs Lyle, an Australian travel writer and her sickly adult son Eric, a fantasist and rabid alcoholic. The night after their arrival in Oran, he wanders through the township and has a brief liaison with a local prostitute. Port, in the grip of an existential funk, has fallen out of love with Kit and they are sexually estranged. They arrive in Algeria, accompanied by a fellow American George Tunner, who has a secret crush on Kit. What it’s about: Oran, Algeria, 1945. Port Moresby and his wife Kit are wealthy Americans who have been travelling internationally for several years.
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