Days of Ignorance

Is he dead? Medina, Saudi Arabia. A young man, Malek, has been brutally attacked for being of the "wrong" race. Malek's lover Leen waits by his bedside and reflects on their relationship and her life as an unmarried, childless woman. All around her are voices of judgment and concern; in the 21st century it is still unforgivable, and dangerous, for a Saudi woman to enter into a relationship with a black man. In the distance US planes hover over Iraq, primed to embark on yet another senseless conflict. Malek's attacker was Leen's brother. Flinging wide a window onto the second holiest Islamic city - a city in which people observe daily prayers and preach equality and justice - Days of Ignorance is a novel about honour, hypocrisy, war, and fear. And, glimmering beyond, beneath, and behind it all, love.