"Montagu's writing is lucid, polished, and serves his storytelling well. He breathes full, rich, genuine life into each of his three different worlds quite successfully. He is a fine writer, and this is a tour of milieus and situations that few of us would ever experience otherwise, by a guide who clearly knows them intimately, and communicates them evocatively."

--Jonathan Stone, author of eight thriller novels including Moving Day, The Teller, Two for the Show and Days of Night

"The Riddle of the Sphinx is a gripping, beautifully written work of fiction. It is not only a finely wrought story of a young boy's coming of age and growing into manhood,but also a story of a love affair and engagement with great literature.The protagonist, Eric, escapes Iran after the Islamic revolution, attends Princeton, and becomes a partner in a major law firm; but it is in theworks of the imagination--Proust, Baudelaire, Sophocles--that he finds true wisdom and fulfillment. If you love a good read and the classics of Western literature, you will love this novel."

-Haleh Esfandiari, author of My Prison My Home: One Woman's Captivity in Iran

"Montagu is a fiercely intelligent writer and The Riddle of the Sphinx, (and in particular, the story of the protagonist's escape from revolutionary Iran) is written with great passion and daring."

-Joseph Olshan, author of Clara's Heart and Black Diamond Fall "

A fascinating account of a young man's discovery of himself through the troubled history of his homeland and the hothouse of an Ivy League education, The Riddle of the Sphinx raises delicate issues of identity and culture among elite but no less fragile lives."

-David Bellos, Meredith Howland Pyne Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Princeton University