The Dove's Necklace

A young woman's naked body lies in an alley of Abu al-Ruus, an old neighbourhood of Mecca, and the police officer in charge cannot work out who killed her. The main narrator is the neighbourhood itself, which stays awake while people and police sleep and sees more than anyone, but only drops hints. Its residents are hemmed in by walls, by legends, by harsh social rules and by the money and power reshaping the city. Aisha, in a room without a window, escapes through memories of a stay in Germany, emails to a German lover and the novels of D. H. Lawrence; Youssef, a history graduate, escapes into Mecca's past. Some accept the place fate has given them; others try to break free of it.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Genres

Crime (assigned by AI)

Set in

Saudi Arabia

First published

2010 by Al-Markaz al-Thaqafi al-Arabi

ISBN

9780715645864 (Duckworth, United Kingdom)

9781590208984 (Overlook Press, United States)

9781468316223 (Overlook Press, United States)

More

Wikidata