Ambassador's Son

The Ambassador's Son is a novel inspired by true events, written as a tribute to the author's beloved father. The story opens with eight-year old Rudi in 1954 watching his parents and their friends at the Lebanese embassy in Mexico City play poker. Young Rudi is enchanted and the seeds are planted for a lifelong struggle with gambling. In Cairo two years later, the populist Nasser nationalizes everything in sight and swiftly clamps down on the wealthy. Many of Cairo's desperate rich come to Ambassador Rahmani seeking help getting valuables out through the diplomatic pouch. The Ambassador turns them all down. All, that is, except one. He agreed to help a wealthy Egyptian family, and like tumblers in a lock, Rudi's family and the Egyptian family became entwined for the next three decades. Their son Omar became Rudi's best friend as they attended Oxford together. They each emigrated to the United States, eventually joining forces in business, and walking with each other through joys, conflict and tragedies. Business, gambling, and loyalty further bound the two families through corporate takeovers, an epic love story, as well as rescues in war-ravaged Beirut . . . until all of it unraveled.