Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
BOOK OF THE WEEK with Linda Jennings. The Temporary Bride, Jennifer Kllinec, ISBN 9781844088232 (Virago) BD7.900 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members
A relationship was a mathematical formula: the correct variables of age, beauty, morality and finances were entered and the output was a successful, peaceful marriage. It couldn’t be, therefore, that their Iranian son could feel desire for someone six years his senior, someone who didn’t come to him pure and untouched.
Jennifer was an amusing visitor from another world and soon enough she would return to it, fading quietly away (it was hoped).
Raised in Canada to Hungarian-Croatian parents, she had already travelled to countries most people are fearful of, in search of ancient recipes for her cooking school. Her quest lead her to Iran where, hair discreetly covered and eyes modest, she was introduced to a local woman to teach her the secrets of the Persian kitchen.
Vahid, her son, was at first suspicious of the strange foreigner who turned up in his mother’s kitchen - unused to seeing an independent woman. However, a compelling attraction pulled them together and then pitted them against harsh Iranian laws and customs.
Moving, fascinating and full of the sights, smells and tastes of Iran, this is a heart-warming tale of love against the odds.
* Read it now in paperback
I Am Malala, Malala Yousafzai, ISBN 9781780226583 (Orion)
BD4.500 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members
Malala is the joint and youngest ever winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. She won for what the Nobel committee called her ‘heroic struggle’ for girls’ right to an education and this is her newly-released updated story released this month.
Malala, now 17, was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman two years ago in Pakistan after coming to prominence for her campaigning for education for girls.
Remarkably, Malala survived the shooting and at a very young age, and has become a worldwide symbol of courage and hope.
Her shooting has sparked a wave of solidarity across Pakistan, not to mention globally, for the right to education, freedom from terror and female emancipation.
She has since continued to campaign for girls’education, speaking before the UN, meeting Barack Obama and being named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people.
A worthy Nobel Peace winner; this is an autobiography not to be missed.
* My favourite read-of-the-week
Belle Lesley Pearse, ISBN 9780241950364 (PENGUIN) BD4.500 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members
Belle is the latest novel from best-selling Lesley Pearse who has a very large following of readers who enjoy ‘light’ historical fiction.
This tale features 15-year-old Belle who witnesses a girl brutally murdered by a client in a London house of ill-repute and whose own life is consequently now in danger.
Snatched from the streets she is sold as a courtesan in New Orleans and is at the mercy of desperate men who crave her beauty and will do anything to keep her.
Belle is a heroine of our times - a strong woman trying to be good in a world turned bad.
