Amedeo

Set between 1935 and 1945 across Abyssinia, Eritrea and Yemen, this account follows Amedeo Guillet, an Italian cavalry officer sent out under Mussolini's regime to create and command a force of 2,000 Spahis, Arab cavalrymen whose style was compared to that of Cossacks. In Abyssinia he meets and falls in love with Khadija, a beautiful Ethiopian Muslim woman. Together they stop British lorries labouring up the mountain road to Asmara and blow up the important Ponte Aosta.

Amedeo is eventually captured, but he escapes disguised as an Arab and reaches Yemen, where he is thrown into prison. The story moves through the rise of Fascist Italy, the brutal Abyssinian war waged by the Duce, and the colonial rivalry between Italy and Britain. In Eritrea in 1941 he led a cavalry charge that is described as the last the British army ever faced, and his men were cut down by tanks and sub-machine guns. Defeat is followed by guerrilla fighting against the British.

The book also tells of his flight, his imprisonment, and the loss of Khadija, whom he must leave to face her future alone. He returns to Italy, to his fiancée and a career as a distinguished diplomat and Arabist. It offers an unusual Italian view of the Second World War, including the Italian resistance to the Nazis and the events of 1943, when Italy withdrew from the conflict.

Amedeo is still alive and lives in County Meath, Ireland. The author, Sebastian O'Kelly, is a journalist for the Mail and Telegraph, and he wrote the book with Amedeo's full co-operation.