Dubai Wives by Zvezdana Rashkovich

As I head toward my "twilight years" and as authors from other exotic countries come to light in this easily-accessible-by-the-stroke-of-a-finger age, I want to explore and read more books from other countries instead of having a tunnel-vision view on reading.

I have only ever been to Dubai once, on a transit from the Far East back to England, so technically I have never actually set foot on Dubai soil and was only an "in-betweener".  My love of travelling will one day find me there but for now, I am content to let my mind travel for me.

I hope you will enjoy this novel in terms of its eclectic mix of cultures, peoples, lifestyle and oh so lavish setting.  It is a good tale of eight different women finding themselves in different situations at different stages in their lives, some of their own making and some fated.

For me, this book can be classified as a downtime book because it does not tax my brain whatsoever and I would use it as a buffer in between my crime fiction reads.  I can imagine it as a running television soap though, because the lives of the women are certainly filled with enough drama and secrets to create another ubiquitous reality television show, made up of a multi-ethnic cast in an opulent diamond-dripping society.

My two favourite characters are Pamira (Persian) and Jane (English).  Happy reading.

Paperback blurb:  Dubai Wives weaves a complex multicultural tale of unraveling secrets and diverse, flawed characters.  The lives of eight women collide in this opulent, culturally vibrant city on a journey of sisterhood, friendship, love, betrayal and the heartbreaking choices of its residents.

We see Jewel, a beautiful but frustrated wife to her powerful Emirati husband, and Tara, a devout Muslim with a passionate secret, and Liliana, a tragic dancer in the seedy clubs of Dubai.

A stirring tale encompassing tradition, identity, and faith, Dubai Wives takes the reader into the hidden world behind the walls of lavish mansions and into the back alleys of Dubai, from the hills of Morocco to the gloomy English countryside, from the slums of India to the glittering lights of the Burj Al Arab.  It paints a portrait of a world where no one is who they seem to be...and where everything is possible.

About the author:  Zvezdana Rashkovich was born in Croatia.  She grew up in the Sudan.  A global nomad from the age of seven, the author has lived in Croatia, Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Iraq, USA, Qatar, and Dubai, resulting in a cross cultural journey that has lasted most of her life.  A fluent speaker of Arabic the author has worked as a legal and medical interpreter for refugees in the USA while writing and bringing up her four children.

She currently resides in Dubai and is working on her second novel entitled Daughter of the Nile set in Sudan.  Dubai Wives, published in January 2011 by AuthorHouse, is her first novel.

More on her official website and on Twitter.

Rating:  2/5