First published 1988
Frances Shore, a British architect, moves with her husband to the dusty Saudi Arabian city of Ghazzah Street. Isolated in their apartment, Frances finds herself increasingly unsettled by the building's mysterious occupants and the relentless surveillance of the local authorities. As she struggles to adapt to her new surroundings, Frances is drawn into a web of suspicion and paranoia, leading her to question the very fabric of her reality. Trapped in a world where privacy is a luxury, Frances must confront the darkness that lurks beneath the surface of expatriate life.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, mystery, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, isolation, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Ghazzah Street, Jiddah (Saudi Arabia), Saudi Arabia
299 pages · Paperback · Penguin Books
Content warnings: anxiety