Ricky (A.C.) Metaxas was born in Cairo and attended
secondary school in Alexandria's Averofeio
Gymnasium. He is an engineering graduate of
London University, completing his doctorate at
Imperial College, and holds a Life Fellowship at St
John's College, Cambridge. A lifetime in research
and academe has resulted in two named awards, a
lifetime achievement award, membership of Bologna's
Scientific Academy, two technical books on energy
utilisation, the foundation of a European association
and numerous peer-reviewed publications in his field
of study. The author became aware of the plight
of the Palestinians as an adolescent in Alexandria
during the years following the Suez War. It is a subject
that has preoccupied him for over half a century
culminating in this novel.