London: Jonathan Cape, 1945
Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, A Journey to the Interior was P. H. Newby’s debut novel, first published in 1945.
In the desert Sultanate of Rasuka, the European supervisors of an oil well form a community favourable to the development of minor eccentricities and personal antagonisms. But when one of them disappears, Winter is forced to embark on a unique journey to find him.
“A Journey to the Interior has a provocative fascination not dispelled on the final page. Unlike the easy transparency of much current fiction, the author unfolds his story and characters by indirection and implication in an atmosphere charged with ambiguity and suggestive symbol. The characters not only misunderstand each other but also themselves, and situations arise which at once propel the narrative and act as suggestive symbols. Nor does the author come forth with any neat explanations. His eloquence is reserved for vivid and striking descriptions of scene and action.”
