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thebooktrail88 's review for:
Das Versprechen der Wüste
by Katherine Webb
I was really looking forward to this novel and was hungry to read it but this is not a novel to read in haste but to take your time over. I slowed down after a few chapters, deliberately taking in each and every fact and character decision for later events weave together in such a way, you’d be wise to pay attention to gain the full consequences of those early chapters.
The setting from the heat of the sands to the isolation of women and the sweltering temperatures building up to war is shockingly good. In a culture and time that few of us understand, this forms a panoramic and human picture of Oman at a time of great upheaval. The detail is exquisite but never reads like a history book. Even more impressive when Katherine explains her research books. How she has woven fact and fiction so seamlessly together, making the characters and their troubles so central has to be applauded. I am in awe of this novel as there’s so much to it yet it’s always through the eyes of Both Maude and Joan and their dealings with the men in their lives and their place in the desert society how we learn of such a fascinating world.
I was there with Joan and Maude every step of the way, hidden in their desert clothes, behind their wish to do and explore more and the mysteries that the desert brought. The final reveal was a culmination of so much history and was very satisfying. I felt every grain of sand, every worry and every hot stone as they clamored to find their way in the aptly named empty quarter.
A novel shining like the jewel in the desert crown.
The setting from the heat of the sands to the isolation of women and the sweltering temperatures building up to war is shockingly good. In a culture and time that few of us understand, this forms a panoramic and human picture of Oman at a time of great upheaval. The detail is exquisite but never reads like a history book. Even more impressive when Katherine explains her research books. How she has woven fact and fiction so seamlessly together, making the characters and their troubles so central has to be applauded. I am in awe of this novel as there’s so much to it yet it’s always through the eyes of Both Maude and Joan and their dealings with the men in their lives and their place in the desert society how we learn of such a fascinating world.
I was there with Joan and Maude every step of the way, hidden in their desert clothes, behind their wish to do and explore more and the mysteries that the desert brought. The final reveal was a culmination of so much history and was very satisfying. I felt every grain of sand, every worry and every hot stone as they clamored to find their way in the aptly named empty quarter.
A novel shining like the jewel in the desert crown.