Finding Nouf, or the mysteries of Saudi deserts

If you like detective stories, whodunit thrillers, then I recommend this intriguing book, a random pick at the library. I was sucked in and read it quickly - duszkiem, or in one sip, as we say in Poland.

Set in contemporary Saudi Arabia, "Finding Nouf" by Zoe Ferraris starts with Nouf ash-Shrawi, a 16-year-old rich Saudi girl who disappears into the desert three days before her marriage and has been found dead, several weeks pregnant.

What ensues is a detective tale, Saudi-style. A friend of the family is asked to investigate Nouf's death discreetly. He seeks the help of one of the Shrawi brothers' fiancee, who is employed in the women's section of the state medical examiner's office. As the two investigate, it becomes clear the dead girl's family has something to do with her disappearance. What's most fascinating, though, is the backdrop of this tale: the Saudi society, which we glimpse as the mysteries unfold. It's a strictly conservative society, where men and women live separate lives, where class is an important sign of status, where secrets are born of taboos, where men think thoughts such as “Allah forgive me for imagining her ankles.” This is not to make fun of Islam. Few of us westerners know much about Saudi society, and that's why this book was so good to read. You could actually get into the heads of characters, behind the women's burqas and the men's averted gaze, feel the emotions boiling over, understand why they have faith in God and in tradition and why they may doubt it.

The best part of the book...

... is the part about tracking footprints in the desert. There are Bedouins, the nomads of the desert, who can read footprints in the sand like fingerprints... there are groups renowned for tracking skills, and they are used by police and counterterrorist units like detectives. The trackers can tell the footprint of different people apart, whether they are men's or women's feet, what kind of person it was based on the weight of the foot. The desert sand - it seems so fragile to us - actually preserves signs of life.

In case you doubt any of it, the author has credibility: she spent years in Saudi Arabia with her-then husband and his Saudi-Palestinian-Bedouin family.