I’m a bit of a late developper. I’ll probably watch Harry Potter 6 in 2012 and i still haven’t watched any Sex in the City or Grey’s Anatomy. I had heard of this book ‘Girls of Riyadh’ a while back, but, strangely enough ( not ) didn’t really see it bursting off the bookshelves here. We went to Al Jarir Bookshop last week and there it was, in all it’s lipstick rouge red glory, one last copy flying off the shelf at me.

I am quite enjoying it so far, and am shocked to the core at Waleed’s total trashing of Sadeem, never mind Gamrah’s terrible experience with the ‘fiilipina tramp’ Kari her new husband has been seeing for seven years. True, as someone says, the novel is ‘no literary genius’ but it is interesting ,by reading it, to confirm that what goes on in Saudi is the same as Kuwait……

Rajaa Alsanea- the author

Such was the success of Girls of Riyadh, that it is now being made into a film, and the author nominated for the 2009 Dublin Literary Award.