The Doomed Oasis is a 1960 thriller novel by the British writer Hammond Innes.[1] A solicitor helps a young man to travel to the Arabian peninsula to find his father, a famous oil prospector Colonel Charles Whitaker.

The Doomed Oasis
First edition
AuthorHammond Innes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreThriller
PublisherCollins
Publication date
1960
Media typePrint
Pages336

Plot edit

Publishers of the novel offered the following overview of the book's plot: "Charles Whitaker is a Welshman who forsakes his native country for the deserts of Arabia. Adapting quickly to this hostile terrain, he soon becomes more Bedouin than British. Whitaker's illegtimate son, David, sets out to find his father. He in turn is followed by a Welsh solicitor who hopes to reunite the two men. The story moves at two levels: One involves a desperate struggle for desert oil; the second, hardly less intense, for father and son to find each other. Both struggles are resolved at Saraifa, the doomed oasis of the title."

Reception edit

In his review of the novel, Robert Wilfred Franson only gives The Doomed Oasis a qualified recommendation, stating that Hammond Innes does what he sets out to do, but the sum of the parts is not wholly satisfactory.[2]

Adaptations edit

A dramatized audio adaptation of The Doomed Oasis featuring six half-hour episodes adapted by Rene Basilico was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra.[3] The production starred Tim Munro as George Grant, was produced by John Fawcett Wilson, and was first broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in August 1984.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ Vinson & Kirkpatrick p.455
  2. ^ Robert Wilfred Franson, Review of The Doomed Oasis by Hammond Innes. September 2010. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  3. ^ The Doomed Oasis by Hammond Innes, BBC Radio 4 Extra. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  4. ^ Episode 1 of 6 The Journey to Arabia, BBC Radio 4 Extra. Retrieved 14 September 2021.

Bibliography edit

  • James Vinson & D. L. Kirkpatrick. Contemporary Novelists. St. James Press, 1986.