A sweeping tale of love and redemption, honor and war, Robert Girardi's Gorgeous East follows three French Foreign legionnaires of very different backgrounds from the cliffs of Mont Saint-Michel to Istanbul's ancient alley ways, from raucous Parisian bars to the desolate Sahara. Gorgeous East takes us on an epic and unforgettable adventure with the wonderful John Smith, a lost Brooklynite they call the Handsome American Cowboy; Colonel de Noyer, the elder statesman slowly going mad; and Captain Pinard, whose past is so hideous he can't find love outside the Legion's walls. When a mission in the Sahara goes horribly wrong, one legionnaire must wage battle against a rogue terrorist group and rescue his brothers-in-arms. In this tremendous return to form, Girardi show cases his sheer love of language and lumi n ous sense of place to deliver a masterful novel of the hearts and minds of soldiers of fortune.