The Pact We Made by Layla Al Ammar

Dahlia and her best friends Zaina and Mona make a pact as children that they will be married by the age of 22 and have their weddings together - Dahlia is now approaching 30 and still unmarried while her best friends are already married. Set in contemporary Kuwait, The Pact We Made is the story of a grown woman’s life facing the pressures of Kuwaiti society to be married by a certain age, behave in a certain way, work in certain fields and care about her reputation. In secret Dahlia cares not for these things and her mother’s unrelenting pressure makes her feel choked, adding to the chronic anxiety she suffers from as a result of a very traumatic experience at the age of 15, an experience that makes her “damaged goods” in the eyes of Kuwaiti society. Will Dahlia be able to stand up for herself and choose the life she wants?

As someone who grew up in the Gulf from the age of 14 to 29, I resonated with so much in this novel, from the pressures young Gulf women face such as the pressure to get married, the way society is obsessed with reputation, and topics such as convenience marriages and the way that sexual assault and rape is dealt with in the Gulf. It was incredible to read a novel about Kuwait in the English language that was so realistic and frank - for a long time novels set in the Gulf only existed in Arabic and if a book speaks of taboo topics like rape, homosexuality and relationships before marriage, they are banned in the Gulf. It was refreshing to read Gulf Arabic terms and to re-live experiences such as the expat house parties! A spot-on depiction of life in contemporary Kuwait - even if you’ve had no experience of the Gulf you will still be touched by this story of a woman who yearns to live a life she chooses rather than a life where others always set her path for her.

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