When Nouf ash-Shrawi, the sixteen-year-old daughter of a wealthy Saudi dynasty, disappears from her home in Jeddah just days before her arranged marriage, desert guide Nayir is asked to bring her home.
But when her battered body is found, Nayir feels compelled to uncover the disturbing truth, travelling away from the endless desert to the vast city of Jeddah, where, most troubling of all, Nayir finds himself having to work closely with Katya Hijazi, a forensic scientist. The further into the investigation he goes, the more Nayir finds himself questioning his loyalties: to his friends, faith and culture.
But when her battered body is found, Nayir feels compelled to uncover the disturbing truth, travelling away from the endless desert to the vast city of Jeddah, where, most troubling of all, Nayir finds himself having to work closely with Katya Hijazi, a forensic scientist. The further into the investigation he goes, the more Nayir finds himself questioning his loyalties: to his friends, faith and culture.
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Reviews
Zoë Ferraris lived for a time in a religious community in Saudi Arabia and has drawn on ** her experiences in The Night of the Mi'raj . . . as a portrait of contemporary life in Jeddah, it's a success.
** 'Gripping . . . this is a fascinating mystery, with a complex and likable hero
** 'Subtle, interesting explorations of sexual and religious repression. Ferrarris . . . has a lucid eye for cultural pressures and the sympathy she extends to her (often fearsomely devout) characters makes this both a likeable novel and a timely one
** 'Ferraris's remarkable debut is a tense psychological drama, and a riveting portrait of everyday life in a society with paranoid attitudes towards women and sex.