Sideeqee, My Friend (Paperback)

Far from his broken marriage and lost children, Jack finds Bohemia peddling and consuming illegal booze in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The parlors and living rooms of Saudis and expatriates swing open for sidiqee, the best known distilled spirit of the desert kingdom, and the title of Liam Bracken's latest novel. Life is not perfect in Saudi Arabia, but for Jack it is as close as it can get to Utopia, until Martin Hayes, who caused the destruction of his family, steps in as his supervisor demonstrating a British approach to work and life on foreign shores. Bliss then vapourises for Jack as he navigates the Arab street in one of the most restrictive countries in the world. His challenge now is not just to continue his dangerous illicit trade but to face his worst fear - being pushed out of Saudi Arabia. Here, at last, is an insider's narrative of Arabia's western community, a lids-off account of people who constitute that country's guest worker population, and their interaction with their hosts. It is not a pretty tale.