Light of the Desert

Walters’s poignant novel puts a human face on “honor killings” while tapping into the universal quandaries surrounding faith, hope, guilt, and familial love. The moral consequences of religiously motivated killings are but one theme explored in Lucette Walters’s compelling debut novel, Light of the Desert.

In early 1990s Jordan, Noora Fendil is the favorite child of her father, Farid, a rich Islamic businessman whose ideals straddle East and West. Jealous of Noora, her younger sister, Zaffeera, embarks on a deadly plan to discredit her older sister so that she can literally take her place.

In some Islamic countries, in some circumstances, it is considered just to kill a woman who dishonors the family name; such acts are known as “honor killings.” Zaffeera sets in motion a plot that she hopes will result in her sister’s death. She plans to lead Noora astray and catch the dishonorable actions on film, so that Farid will kill Noora to reclaim the Fendil honor.

Left for dead, Noora escapes to safety with the help of her brother, where she finds refuge with a nomadic tribe, then in France, then in California. She never loses hope that she may one day return to Jordan.

Walters’s poignant novel puts a human face on a shocking practice unknown to many Westerners while tapping into the universal quandaries surrounding faith, hope, guilt, and familial love. Noora, Zaffeera, and Farid all are well-rounded, dynamic characters who change and grow throughout the story. While remaining sweet and loving, Noora acquires courage
throughout the novel. Her quiet fortitude proves bravery takes many forms; her force of will inspires those who feel helpless. While depicted as envious, one understands Zaffeera’s motivations without agreeing with them because the author excels at showing how Zaffeera always chafes at being in Noora’s shadow. Additionally, Walters effortlessly captures the hybrid worlds of East and West, of tradition and modernity, that the Fendil family inhabits.

In the following exchange, Zaffeera overhears her father talking to a sheik at his mosque before she and Noora are scheduled to leave Jordan for college: “‘sending your daughters to a Clarion Review foreign country alone. It is not done…Your daughters must have a bodyguard.’” Farid reluctantly agrees, believing his daughters to be responsible enough to fend for themselves. The author makes liberal use of Arabic and French phrases, translating them into English. The use of these phrases makes the locales Noora travels to seem vivid and real. Also, the author adds descriptions to her natural settings, with the “calm Red Sea shimmering like glass,” for example.

Zaffeera goes from understandably jealous to downright vile. As the story alternates between the family Noora is forced to leave behind and her flight from place to place, the book becomes a page-turner as we race to see how the stories will reconnect. Zaffeera’s slip into increasing depravity, coupled with Farid’s conflicting feelings over condemning Noora to death, also ups the suspense.

Anyone who likes human dramas of epic proportions with a window into Eastern cultures should enjoy this novel.

After her father attempts to murder her, a young woman flees her home and starts a new life in Walter’s debut novel.

Noora Fendil is a young woman from a prominent Muslim family in Jordan, attending school in London with her younger sister Zaffeera. Engaged to be married, Noora is caught between her modern life and her father’s growing religious fundamentalism. Zaffeera is jealous of Noora’s beauty and wishes to steal her fiance, so she develops a plan to blackmail her sister and cause her father to disown her. She drugs Noora and lures her to a club where she’s paid men to seduce her, as their father’s bodyguard photographs them in action. Noora, unable to remember her own actions at the club and unaware of her sister’s plot, returns home from school to Jordan, where her father has already made a grave decision. He denounces and attempts to “mercy kill” Noora—a practice intended to save her and her family from the disgrace of her indiscretion. She’s saved from the brink of death by her brother and smuggled to Israel to recover from her injuries. While attempting to find a safe place to hide, she survives a deadly helicopter crash, lives among Bedouins in the desert, stows away in a boat full of lecherous sailors and briefly finds a home in the south of France. A series of coincidences bring her to Los Angeles, where she becomes the assistant to a powerful film producer. But Noora is not alone in her travels, as she’s secretly tracked by her father’s bodyguard, who’s determined to punish her for her disgrace. Despite the novel’s considerable length, its many storylines feel too episodic, and the overall narrative suffers from the constant diversions. Furthermore, the exaggerated circumstances of Noora’s adventure, and the various subplots concerning her family, read like a soap opera, which undercuts the novel’s emotional weight. That said, the story is entertaining, and some passages effectively develop the characters (“[S]he felt embarrassed to discuss her feelings with her husband, who was too busy with his business—and his grief”) and add depth to the storyline. More often, however, the author seems content to let the primary storyline coast on drama alone, until it reaches an anticlimactic resolution.

An ambitious but ultimately thin novel of the contemporary Middle East.

Even before commencing the first chapter, the author creatively introduces the reader to a world of suspense and mystery and a welcome to a thrilling story. March 21, 1993; the introduction part tells of a girl who is being dragged down to a pool by her father. The girl is obviously in torment as she has been savagely kicked, hurt to the point of bleeding and is now being drowned. Later in the book, the reader gets to know that the girl is named Noora, and she was being unfairly punished just because of something involving her jealous sister, Zaffeera. I admired that the author had me guessing and thus increased my urge to read the book further.

On the first chapter, we are introduced to Yasmina Fendil, a hardworking and obedient wife in a traditional Egyptian family. I liked how the author portrayed Yasmina. She was always submissive to her husband, always faithful even though her husband was previously a playboy and still made out with other women when he traveled for business. Yasmina and her mother Sultana were the pillars of her home. As for Farid, Yasmina’s husband, he was the head of the family and the sole provider; we could see how these two women had an impact on the family and their society. 

Though the society in Light of the Desert is completely patriarchal, we can see how important the feminine aura in their daily life is. The male gender always dominated every aspect of the family, even disregarding logic in emergency matters. The incident where Yasmina had to go through a cesarean operation so as to give birth to her third child, Zaffeera, was the peak moment where I found patriarchy to be irrational. Here is a woman, who could lose her life if not attended to, but the males; her husband, the Sheik and other men were still debating on whether to consent to the operation or not. Sultana was my heroine at this moment. She was up against the societal rules if it meant saving Yasmina. She was ready to face any consequence later on, but her daughter Yasmina had to be attended by the English doctors.

Zaffeera’s envy of Noora’s life, especially seeing how in love Noora was with her fiancé Michel and the events that followed made the book interesting to read. Though younger, she wanted to be the controlling sister and felt superior to Noora. The introduction text in the book is later explained in a detailed and absorbing style. A jealous sister who frames her sibling, making her suffer and even run so as to stay safe.

The author wrote a really beautiful piece of literature that is full of adventure, lessons and a great plot. Basing the story on an Egyptian family which had a blend of both  traditional modern aspects of life was genius of the author. Her style of writing is nothing but fantastic. I enjoy reading books which use stylistic devices like metaphors, sayings and similes. There is also symbolism in the book, and an array of themes; romance, the family setting, betrayal, education, femininity and diversity in culture and societal norms. Light of the Desert is a great piece of literary art.

"Standing behind his partners, mesmerized by the flames, Moustafa watched with clenched teeth. The sinful girl was where she deserved to be—in hell…and he was free."

If stories of sweep and scope appeal to you, you’ll likely be caught up in this saga of a young woman’s incredible odyssey. Starting from a position of wealth and privilege, she finds herself thrust into unimaginably harrowing predicaments. But fate, fellow travelers, and her unremitting will to survive keep moving her toward a destiny she never could have possibly foreseen.

Noora is the oldest daughter of a highly successful Middle Eastern businessman. With some trepidation, he sends Noora and her sister away to college in England. Prior to a return home for the holidays, Noora is drugged by her scheming sister and tricked into unwittingly participating in seemingly lascivious behavior that is photographed by their bodyguard. The girls’ father, a devout Muslim, becomes so enraged at Noora’s apparent disregard for their family’s reputation that he beats and kills her… he thinks. But unbeknownst to him, Noora survives and begins an unbelievable journey from the depths of despair—a journey that will take her from Bedouin camps in the desert to scullery work in France to palatial palaces in Beverly Hills. But will it ever take her home to those who never stopped loving her?

Walters is a highly imaginative storyteller. Each episode she creates seems to be more compelling than the one that precedes it. Her characters are memorable. She imbues them with behavior and dialogue that quickly make you want to hate or cherish each one. Her depictions of exotic locations are painted with verbal brush strokes that enhance their allure. Exciting, adventurous, romantic—this is a big, sprawling novel with a confident writer at the helm. Put it on your list.

RECOMMENDED by the US Review