Diving for Pearls

by Jamie O’Connell

A young woman's body floats in the Dubai marina. Her death alters the fates of six people, each one striving for a better life in an unforgiving city.A young Irish man comes to stay with his sister, keen to erase his troubled past in the heat of the Dubai sun. A Russian sex worker has outsmarted the system so far - but will her luck run out? A Pakistani taxi driver dreams of a future for his daughters. An Emirate man hides the truth about who he really is. An Ethiopian maid tries to carve out a path of her own. From every corner of the globe, Dubai has made promises to them all. Promises of gilded opportunities and bright new horizons, the chance to forget the past and protect long-held secrets.But Dubai breaks its promises, with deadly consequences. In a city of mirages, how do you find your way out?

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Contemporary, Irish Literature

336 pages, Hardcover

Published June 3, 2021

Reviews

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel takes us inside the city that is Dubai with its its juxtaposition of the extravagant lifestyle experienced by the very wealthy with the poverty experienced by those who have come from poorer countries to build the ever more flamboyant buildings or work as maids or taxi drivers for the wealthy classes.

The discovery of the body of a young girl from an Emirate family will affect a number of people from all stratas of society. Much of the story is seen through the eyes of Siobhan, an Irish expat living in Dubai, her brother Trevor who is visiting, Siobhan’s Ethiopian maid Gete, Tahir, a taxi driver from India and Lydia, a Russian prostitute. Each has a different experience of Dubai. While Siobhan loves the expat lifestyle, spending extravagantly while Tahir and Gete work long hours for little pay. Tahir’s story is a really sad one. Forced to work twelve hours a day driving a taxi in a hot, humid climate, living in a shared dorm in substandard housing, eating meagre food, but unable to go back home. The dead girl was one of his passengers on the night she was killed and he lives I fear of being questioned by Dubai's ruthless police. Gete, also paid poorly, at least has a room and knows she is lucky to be treated well (and is not raped by the master like many maids she knows), but nevertheless she had to give up her passport to the agency when she arrived and is also not free to leave. With unmarried sex illegal in Dubai, Lydia lives in constant danger of being arrested if caught and thrown into prison.

I found this a very thoughtful debut novel. Dubai might be a fabulous city full of beautiful buildings and a wealthy ruling class but at what expense? Underneath the façade there is a world of corruption, cruelty and inhumanity that can’t entirely be hidden by the glamour of the city.

With thanks to Random House UK and Netaglley for a copy to read

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5★

I don't think Jamie O'Connell's going to be consulting for the UAE tourism authority any time soon. The picture of Dubai that he paints in his debut novel is equally glamorous and grotesque; a place where excess and exploitation sit uncomfortably side by side. After a shaky start, this book developed into a fairly good read, but did absolutely nothing to increase my desire to visit Dubai!

Although the story begins with a dead body floating in the marina, followed by an investigation, I wouldn't necessarily call this a crime novel. There are certainly elements of a contemporary family drama though. Told from seven disparate but connected points of view, it's more about how the death affects two main families, one Irish and one Emirati.

There's Siobahn, the expat housewife whose main pastime is shopping. She knows what it's like to have very little, so she's enjoying her Dubai lifestyle to its fullest. She has her hands full with two very young boys, but she's able to offload them on her Ethiopian maid, Gete, whenever she chooses. Gete is smart, kind and principled, working to improve her whole family's prospects back in Ethiopia. Although she works hard all the hours of the day, secretly she wonders how she can ever return to her old life now that she's used to having hot water literally on tap. Sio's younger brother Trevor has come to visit, a year after his mysterious and somewhat mortifying 'accident' back in Dublin. She hopes that he might pick up a job offer as a personal trainer while he's there, and he wonders if that's something he would even consider. Still, he's happy to be spending time with his sister and her family, even if his brother-in-law is absent. Back in Dublin, their mother Joan worries about both of them, but especially Trevor. She's been a widow for a while and is keen to start living again, but the accident preys on her mind and she's also attuned to Siobahn's loneliness.

With his own connections to Ireland, there's the dead woman's brother Aasim. He has to hide his true self from his mega-wealthy and influential family, but he was close to his sister and flies back to Dubai as soon as he hears of her death. He knows he doesn't belong there, and could never live there again. Tahir is a Pakistani taxi driver, there for similar reasons to Gete, with a loving wife and daughters back home that he's supporting. His Dubai life is nothing like Gete's though, living in a dormitory with very little time to himself. As a taxi driver he sees and hears what goes on in the real Dubai, and he knows there are many who would take his place in the blink of an eye. Finally, there is Lydia, a Russian model-turned-sex-worker. She has all the clothes and the beauty products and an outwardly luxe life, but underneath it all she's not so different from Gete and Tahir. Her position in Dubai is no less precarious than theirs, and when she is connected to the death, she is forced to re-evaluate her life.

Gradually the Dubai underbelly comes into focus and we learn enough to draw our own conclusions about the mysterious death. Some readers will find this frustrating, as with the epilogue which neatly delivers an aftermath for most characters but not all. I admit to being comfortable with the former but left wanting to know what happened next for the others.

With thanks to NetGalley and Transworld Publishers for an eARC to read and review.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't like Dubai. I've never bought into the Disneyfication, the sun and shopping and the sheer hypocrisy of the city's status as the 'playground' of the gulf. It's the place where people whose home nations are uber-restrictive go to let down their hair, get drunk, get stoned and get 'temporary wives' (aka prostitutes) before heading home again to their wives, families and mosques. I've been several times. I've had male colleagues billed for 'extra occupancy' in their hotel rooms just because they went to the hotel's 'night club' and were surrounded by working girls. I've seen the environmental disaster in waiting of attempting to air-condition the desert.

So offer me winter in rainy England or a trip to Dubai, and I'm staying home.

Perhaps the shock other readers have about the Dubai that's portrayed in Jamie O'Connell's book comes from their expectations of the 'fun in the sun' image that travel programmes and airlines like to project. Turn up with too many of the wrong prescription drugs, get frisky on the beach, get on the wrong side of a powerful local and you can all end up in prison.

A young woman is floating in Dubai Marina. We are introduced to a bunch of people who are directly or indirectly connected to her death. Sometimes, if I'm honest, much TOO indirectly. Seriously, why did the maid of the wife of a man who might have been up to no good with the girl need to be pulled into the story? That was a good couple of steps removed. It is, however, an important story of the reality of life as a domestic servant in the city. We have a taxi driver, unlucky to be seen to have had the victim in his car. So much easier to blame a poor immigrant than try to track down a wealthy ex-pat who might have done her harm. So much easier to pursue a Russian prostitute who is already on very dodgy legal standing in the country.

Dubai treats people badly. This book reflects that. People refused water or food until they agree to sign 'confessions' written in languages they can't read. Poor people treated like animals whilst the rich locals have near total freedom.

For me, there was a character or two too many. I'm not sure what the role of the dead girl's gay brother really was. I'm not entirely sure about the role of the Irish wife's visiting brother either. The book felt a bit like it was trying too hard to tie too many threads together.

My advice? Cut a few characters and finish the story. I don't think it's too much to ask that a 'whodunnit' will actually reveal 'whodunnit'.

I'd read this author again. I was surprised he was a man. Let me explain; throughout the book, I'd been assuming the author was a woman. I don't often get caught out like that.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy.

[R · Rating 1 out of 5]

There were parts of this book I really liked. The insight into life in Dubai was interesting from all the different perspectives but the ending was awful.
Why in the epilogue give us what became of some of the characters and not the rest of them? Who gives a toss about eating takeaway in Dublin, and the big narrative about the unnamed film star who had no role in the story at all, when we don't find out what happened between Aasim and David, Trevor and Gete alone in the villa and Lydia what became of her?
The most likable character, Tahir was the one who ended up worse for wear. The awful husband got away with it all and the poor murderer girl wasn't even given an explanation as to why she died!
Sorry this novel doesn't flow well!

[Harley]

An Irish man flies to see his sister, living the high life in the sand-bound city. A sex-worker tries not to think of her family back home in Russia. A taxi-driver dreams of the day he’ll go home to his family in Pakistan. An Emirate man grapples with who he is, and who his family want him to be. An Ethiopian maid finds her world changed and a new path forged. And a woman is dead, her body floating in Dubai marina. As the threads tangle, the city glitters and reveals the truth… or does it?

I’m going to start with my controversial opinion, because I think it’ll make the rest of my thoughts on this book make more sense. This would have made a gorgeous short-story collection. The inconclusive endings, the snippets of lives, the way the vignettes interwove without always touching, all things I love in a good short story collection. I’ve read a few this year that have had place as one of their themes (Land of Big Numbers and Milk Blood Heat to name two). As a series of comments on the bizarre city of Dubai, this would have been charming. There is some brilliant writing, some excellent character study and the interactions between characters has moments of real, truthful humanity.

Where this didn’t work for me was as a novel with a coherent narrative arc from beginning to end. While the characters are engaging, and their individual histories, quirks and flaws are worth the read, the way their stories wove together wasn’t wholly satisfying. And I think, having mulled it over, I can pin it down to one key part of the story that doesn’t get the page-time it deserves – the death of the woman who is found in the marina. While we might know who she is, and while she provides both the catalyst for events and an explanation for some of the character resolutions, she is otherwise voiceless and purposeless. We never get to understand what she was doing, why her. All we know is what others say about her. Why that matters to me is because I think she could have been taken out of the story altogether and the events could still have unfolded in a similar, if not the same way. For a part of the plot that is front and centre in the blurb to be so accessory to the narrative was jarring.

You know me, a 3 star read is a good book. Not entirely for me, but there is definitely writing in here that is worth reading – which is always a good thing in my eyes.

Books in Steel City x

*Thanks Random House UK for gifting me this advance read copy in exchange for an honest review!

[Aoife Cassidy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up

I’ve never been to Dubai, nor do I have any desire to go there. Glistening wealth atop a seedy underbelly. Stiflingly hot and oppressively religious, Dubai would not be for me but I loved the claustrophobic sense of place brilliantly evoked by the author. The city was the standout character for me.

It’s hard to categorise this book on a first read. Is it a slow burn thriller? A family drama? Incisive social commentary? In a some ways it’s all of the above, but for me where the book excels is in its unvarnished portrayal of Dubai. The murder mystery feels a bit irrelevant, except that it serves as the vehicle for illuminating the dark heart of Dubai.

At the outset, we find out that a young wealthy Emirate woman Hayim, has been found dead floating in the marina. We hear from various characters with connections to Dubai (and Dublin), and as their stories unfold, so too do the some of mysterious circumstances surrounding Hayim’s death.

In terms of the characters, I would have liked more of Aasim, and to have heard the perspective of Hayim and Martin. I loved Joan (the quintessential Irish mammy), though I thought her character was pretty superfluous to the story.

I thought Gete’s story was handled fairly sensitively, but there’s a touch of white saviourism (Trevor’s last stand) at the end that bothered me. I found it unrealistic - Trevor would have been on the first plane out! I would also have liked a little more resolution in terms of some of the characters - Aasim and Tahir in particular, though that’s a personal preference as opposed to a criticism.

Nonetheless the ending felt realistic (depressingly so) and only served to reinforce my impression of Dubai. It was a four star read for me until close to the end, where I felt the strands just didn’t come together as well as I’d hoped. A great debut though and an enjoyable summer read. 3.5-4/5 ⭐️

[Hana · Rating 4 out of 5]

very vague ending but an interesting read about different 'ranks' of people and how that affects their life opportunities

[Mairead Hearne (swirlandthread.com) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diving for Pearls by Jamie O’ Connell was published June 3rd with Doubleday Ireland (Penguin Books Ireland) with the Irish Times stating that ‘it’s tough to link so many narrative threads without clunky transitions or a loss of character depth, but O’Connell pulls it off with aplomb, breathing authenticity into each character’s world… An often dark and poignant read that will fully engage the reader from the outset.’

Diving for Pearls is set amidst the glamour and bright lights of Dubai. As the crowds go about their business around the flashy marina, no one initially notices the woman floating, arms outstretched, in the water below. Her name is Hiyam Husayin. Like a ripple is a pond, Hiyam’s death affects six people in ways they least expect and lives are changed forever.

Aasim is a student in Trinity College Dublin.
Siobhan is married to Martin. They are Irish ex-pats living a comfortable life in Dubai.
Trevor is Siobhan’s brother. He is embarking on a trip to Dubai to refocus on his life.
Tahir is a taxi driver in Dubai with a family at home in Pakistan. His life is very tough but he is determined to provide for his family.
Gete is from Ethiopia and is a young maid working in Dubai, sending what she can afford back home to her struggling family.
Lydia is a Russian sex-worker hoping to provide a better life for herself among the ostentatiousness of Dubai.

When I think of Dubai I think of shimmering lights, fast cars and dripping jewellery, with images of glittering skylines, an azure sea and the scent of oud capturing my senses. But is it all a façade? What really lies beneath this glistening image? Jamie O’ Connell takes the reader behind the scenes into the homes and minds of his characters as they all struggle with their lives. Dreams and aspirations are oft-times shattered as reality comes crashing down. Society’s expectations can be too heavy a load to carry. The veneer dulls, the truth realised and lives disassemble, leaving broken dreams and bodies in its wake.

There is a dead body central to the story and yet it does not feel like a murder mystery as Jamie O’ Connell delves deep into the underbelly of Dubai shattering illusions and highlighting the deceptiveness of appearances. Each character is wonderfully depicted bringing them very much alive as their thoughts and dreams are slowly revealed.

Diving for Pearls is a tragic novel that leaves the reader questioning and craving more. I was invested in many of the characters, left bereft on closing the final page but that is what makes this book very special. Like Dubai its appearances can be deceptive. There are very strong themes of greed, poverty, shame and regret. It is a harsh glimpse of life in Dubai. Peel away the top layer and what will you discover….

Diving for Pearls is a fascinating and offbeat novel, which is what makes it such a compelling read. A seductive tale, Diving for Pearls is a wonderful debut from this talented Irish writer.

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

READ THIS BOOK BEFORE GOING TO DUBAI!

As someone who was raised in Dubai and lived there for over 15 years, this is the book I had always been waiting for. Surprisingly, I picked up this read at the Dubai Mall. Not sure how it ever got approved to be sold in the UAE, as one of the central characters is a gay Emarati man from an affluent family. For context, homosexuality is still considered a highly-offensive and punishable crime in the UAE.

The story accurately highlights the stark contrast between the lives of the privileged and the poor in the lifeless city of Dubai. From the beginning of the book, Dubai’s mistreatment of labour workers is brought to light. The author accurately highlights the ignorance and entitlement of expat families. Although the novel is fiction, the central characters and their stories align with reality. I wish I could distribute this novel on a Dubai-bound flight. It has always disturbed me how this glorified city’s true face has been brushed over and hidden by the media. O’Connell simply shows the tip of the iceberg. This novel will definitely be a surprising read for those who only know Dubai through what is displayed in the media.

[Lily Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Diving for pearls is about the different sides to Dubai and how the city treats people of different races, income levels, and sexualities. It revolves around the death of a young, well-connected, woman and how her death affects Dubai’s elite and not-so elite
It is told through multiple perspectives. To name a few: Siobhan a young Irish woman living in Dubai, her brother Trevor and her live-in Ethiopian maid Gete.

I enjoyed this book when I first read it, it is an interesting exploration of the dark side to Dubai (I don’t think I’ll be going there anytime soon!), a city which is too often hailed as a haven.
While it was a nice read (It is also always nice to read a book by an Irish author) it wasn’t groundbreaking. I would recommend reading it if you think you would like it, but don’t rush to add it to your TBR.

[Harmony Kent · Rating 1 out of 5]

Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House for a free advanced review copy of this book.

I haven't read any books by this writer previously, and I looked forward to this one after the blurb and premise aroused my intrigue. To say I was disappointed doesn't cover it. By just 7% of the book, I had way too many highlights and notations, and that was after ignoring the same mistakes repeated over and over again.

The narrative is written in third person omniscient and suffers from chronic head-hopping, and I mean chronic ... it bordered on the psychotic. Add to that the constant shifts between past tense and present tense when the characters reminisce--and all of this without any indications for the poor reader--as well as continual scene shifts with no warning or indication, I found this one of the most arduous reads of my life. In one instance, we went from a crow on the barrier of the M50 to toothpaste splashed on the bathroom mirror, with a reminiscence in the middle. Nothing separated any of these disparate scenes at all. Has an editor even looked at this?

I didn't connect with the characters, and the ending was most unsatifsfactory. After all of this effort, it would be nice to have all of the loose threads tied up, but no, that did not happen.

I felt there were lots of issues with this book and can only give it 1 star.

I did like the cover and the story premise, which showed much promise.

***

NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.
4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.
3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.
2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.
1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

[Jenni Owen-Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the format and writing style of this book. But I was left feeling hugely frustrated by the ending. We never really find out what happened, and a lot of characters' stories left me wondering. Not a feeling I enjoyed in this instance!

[Audrey D · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read but I had unanswered questions and I dislike that.

[Alfie Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5, the focus of this book isn’t rlly on the murder that happens, which i enjoyed. I was surprised how little the murder was discussed, but rather kept popping up to tie the central characters individual plot lines together. Was a good read

[Laura Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read and would be for anyone who has lived in/visited the UAE. Realities of cultural differences between Ireland and Dubai are evident, the juxtaposition of the rich and the poor is well thought out and described for someone who is unfamiliar with the Dubai lifestyle.

A very well written book in my opinion and an enjoyable summer read, it took me a while to get into and that is why I would give it four stars. I feel the author could’ve done a little more research around the Emirati culture; ie - why was Hiyam in a taxi with strangers… in reality she would have her own car or her own driver. Some chapters were hard to fully engage in as there were two stories going on simultaneously, yet they were linked so it made sense.

I could rate this a three star book, but I will give it four stars for the enjoyment factor over everything else mentioned.

[Gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I enjoyed every aspect of it. Irish authors, I don’t know what it is, but they really do tell such a good tale. A story about people and their struggles, their emotions, their every day lives, just so riveting I thought.

The book is set mainly in Dubai, although one of the less involved characters – Trevor and Siobhan’s mother, still lives at home in Ireland. All the way through there is an insidious atmosphere of oppression, from both the overbearing heat of the desert and the somewhat harsh culture of an Arab state.

All the characters are so well drawn. Quite an achievement to bring such convincing authenticity to each of the characters from around the world as the reader hears their stories through the chapters, they all seem so real.

Tahir, the Pakistani taxi driver, working to send home his earnings to keep his family back in Pakistan. He keeps his head down, he drives all day, every day, the same routes until he can finally knock off only to sleep in poor, shared accommodation with only the very basics.

Aasim, a rich young Emirati who on first meeting him at the beginning of the book seems all consumed with designer names and expensive possessions. He’s studying in Ireland where he lives with his partner but has been called back to Dubai by his family which is somewhere he would really rather not be.

There’s the irish family. Siobhan has moved to Dubai with her husband Martin and their two young boys. They moved there for a better life and Siobhan loves it. She invites her brother Trevor over for a break whilst trying to convince him of the good opportunities there are for him to make something of his life. Living with them is Gete their Ethiopian maid. Again, like Tahir she’s gone to Dubai to earn money to send back to her family in Ethiopia.

They all came here with hopes for a better life, but once here, they find it’s not so easy to leave and are fast coming to realise, as the saying goes, all that glitters is not gold.

It’s difficult to pigeon-hole this book into any kind of specific genre but perhaps you might class it as a thriller, yet I thought there was far more to it than that with a fair few morals to the tale. It certainly keeps you on the edge at times, especially towards the end.

An absolutely brilliant book, the setting of Dubai making this story into something quite unique. I would love to read more by this author.

[Marline Abellar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jaime O’Connell seems like a really lovely person…which is what makes criticizing his debut novel Diving For Pearls so difficult. Writers have an amazing ability to bring entirely new worlds to their readers, faraway and exotic locations some people may only ever experience in a book. And for that reason, this wonderful and talented ability comes with a great responsibility: to accurately and tastefully portray a foreign land without using the locals (and third-world immigrants present there) only as colourful stepping stones for the main (white) protagonists to achieve their happy ends.

Now, before I go on, here’s a brief synopsis of the book. The story follows six alternating perspectives through the city of Dubai. First, the privileged: there’s Aasim, a closeted Emirati man who returns to Dubai following the death of his sister; Trevor, a musclebound ginger Irishman visiting his sister with hopes of potentially emigrating to the city himself; and Siobhan, Trevor’s sister, mother to Rocco and Milo, and wife to massive douchenozzle Martin. Representing the lower echelon, we have Gete, an Ethiopian maid serving in Siobhan’s household; Tahir, a Pakistani cab driver working hard to send money home to his family, and lastly, Lydia, a Russian prostitute. The novel begins with the body of an Emirati woman being found in the Dubai Marina, a discovery that irreversibly entangles the lives of the aforementioned six protagonists (some more directly and intensely than others). Who is she? What happened to her? Is justice ever served? Well, the answers to these questions dear review-reader are “Hiyam Husayin”, “we’ll never know”, and “no, I mean, we don’t know for sure because actually this is a book that begins with the murder of a woman but turns out to truly be about how her death made the lives of well-to-do expats hard and uncomfortable. Oh, and also leads to the (probable) death of an innocent man, but that all happens off-screen and in throwaway one-liners because…reasons?”

I almost feel as though I’m being unfair to O’Connell because at its heart Diving For Pearls is a story about people from all walks of life trying to make a better life for themselves and their families, and in a way, it’s also a book about the city of Dubai itself, this shining mecca in the middle of a desert that represents opportunity and wealth for so many. And just like a mirage in the desert brought on by heat exhaustion and thirst, the city of Dubai can be duplicitous and deceiving. There’s a line in one of Gete’s chapters where she ponders over how “The law favours Emiratis, then whites, then everyone else” (59) and Diving For Pearls does a great job of showing this inequality through the treatment we see of Tahir and Lydia after they are tenuously linked to Hiyam’s death. Tahir goes on to be charged with Hiyam’s death after being tortured into signing a confession without any access to proper legal counsel after he is simply seen on CCTV to have been the driver of a cab Hiyam was in the night of her death. There’s talk of how Hiyam being out at night without a chaperone and in the company of a man would bring unwanted gossip and dishonor upon her family, a wealthy Emirati family, so in the book it’s explained that true justice isn’t necessary as long as a scapegoat (Tahir) can be slandered and vilified in the media. Then there’s Lydia – beautiful and blonde-haired, blue-eyed Lydia – but from poor circumstances and a sex worker, so she is also without privilege in the country. Even though she is arrested after also being seen on CCTV in the presence of Hiyam on the night of her death, she is eventually released after intervention from the Russian consulate, but not before being subjected to humiliating tests well after the period when such tests would even be relevant in a murder investigation. The treatment of these characters really brings into context the difference between “expats” and “immigrants”, even though on the surface both are words used to describe people who move to a new country for better opportunities and so you might be thinking, well, there you go, see, the book is really raising some good points and maybe that’s the point of it all, to showcase injustice!

Alas, I’d like to give O’Connell the benefit of this particular doubt, but therein lies my contention with the whole novel – if we really wanted to say it’s about injustice and how some voices are oftentimes heard over others, then it’s odd that the novel ends without ever hearing about the outcomes of those marginalized voices from their own mouths. Does Aasim ever manage to escape Dubai and go back to Dublin where he can live his life openly? Does Tahir ever get the chance to contact his family again or escape the death penalty? Is Lydia ever pardoned and allowed to continue her life in Dubai? Who knows! The only minority/POC character we get any sort of closure on is Gete, and this is largely because Trevor (oh, sweet, beefcake Trevor) has the hots for her and would like to add her to his collection of “Miss Worlds”, but he’s a gentleman so he settles on just linking her up with another family to work for before he, Siobhan, and the kids skedaddle from the country after Siobhan’s waste-of-space husband is implicated to be the one responsible for Hiyam’s death. Seriously, Trevor is pretty likeable in his way as the seemingly main protagonist. As a newbie to Dubai himself, reading through his chapters allows the reader to also experience the sights, sounds, and startling differences of Dubai for the first time, but there are times reading about his sexual conquests (and not just in his own chapters, it’s something Siobhan, his sister, takes note of too!) left me shaking my head. “The lads call the women he pulls ‘Miss Worlds’, as he always goes for ladies with a bit of flavour. He likes seeing different shades of nipple, types of hair and feel of skin. Sleeping with a foreign girl is like discovering a new world. After eight pints, he’d describe himself as a ‘connoisseur of the fairer sex’. Maybe, after a decade, he’s just looking for an alternative to ‘the curse of the Quirke’ and something is yet to stick” (43) – by the way, Lucy Quirke is the white, Irish girl he’s been hung up on since forever so we get quite a few instances throughout the book of Trevor trying out “alternatives”, because that’s what women of colour are to him apparently. And in the end, Trevor, Siobhan, and her kids return to Dublin and happily eat takeaway at their mam’s house, slowly getting their lives back on track after their wild, wacky, adventurous time in Dubai. Martin is never brought to justice and we never hear about what happens to any of the other characters either, or even more about who Hiyam was or why or how she died, guess she was simply a catalyst for the story and nothing more.

And so maybe that’s the point O’Connell’s trying to make: as a writer, write what you know.

And then set it in a faraway exotic place to make it interesting.

And then leave it up to the reader to determine that the glazing over of the lives and outcomes of the minority characters is intentional and a greater statement on the injustices of the world overall.

Yeah.

That must be it.

[Camila · Rating 3 out of 5]

A generous 3 stars because I don't feel a 2-star review accurately portrayed this debut novel. Although the writing is done well and you can tell O'Connell has a talent for characters and setting, this novel fell short to me.

The story follows a number of characters all tied through one single event, the murder of an Emirati woman. And do you know the one think the novel doesn't dwell on? The murder of the Emirati woman. To me this was a strange choice that truly made the novel feel incomplete. I kept waiting to find out what happened, but the plot quickly diverts away from it.

Diving for Pearls portrays really interestingly the glamorousness, ephemerality and seediness of Dubai. I really enjoyed that, but I kept wanting more. The main 3 Irish characters are the only ones that really felt like they were well-rounded characters that got a "happy" ending, but the treatment of the characters of colour especially was a bit jarring. It is possibly accurate and a portrayal choice as how Dubai treats immigrants (and not "expats"), but the characters from Ethiopia, Pakistan, Russia and the UAE didn't quite get a resolution.

Approaching 80% of the novel, I finally got interested in what happened only for the novel to end having not resolved what happened around the murder and how the characters are really connected. It is more of a character study than plot driven.

Generally, I think O'Connell tried to accomplish and portray too much in one single novel. After reading the book, I saw he usually writes short stories and I can see it through the novel. The different point of views felt like vignettes that left much to be said.

*This book was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review – all opinions are my own.*

[Joana Ribeiro · Rating 2 out of 5]

Before Dubai’s developmental boom, the way people tried to earn a high amount of money was to dive for pearls. They would risk their lives by diving so deep they might run out of breath but if they found what they were looking for, their lives were made. Dubai has since become a modern oasis for the rich, but though it shines like a pearl, not much has changed.
This is a story about what lies underneath the bright shine of the smoke and mirrors. How a place can dazzle you into risking it all and how it doesn’t pay off for everybody who does.
A young Emirati woman’s body floats in Dubai’s marina. We learn how that impacts the lives of seven characters. This is not a murder mystery, but more of a character study novel where the author tries to show the rawness behind these seemingly very different people.
The body of the young woman belongs to Hiyam Husayin. We meet her brother, who lives as an openly gay man in Dublin while he is studying medicine. He uses his intense wealth to make friends and live a lavish, although very shallow, life. Upon his sister’s death, he must return to his Emirati family, where the masculine figures who head it seem to exude a dangerous authority over the whole family and who force him to hide who he is for fear of the repercussions. Back home, Aasim can’t be himself. Back home, the walls are closing in.
We meet Siobhan, who has moved to Dubai for her husband Martin’s job. She has two small boys and lives a very comfortable life filled with luxuries. Material things are a big part of her day to day, and she navigates Dubai’s fakes markets like a professional. She often leaves the education of her boys as a job for her hard-working maid, Gete. Most things in her life are superficial and she does not seem wholly satisfied, feeling lonely and detached, even if her life appears to be easy.
Trevor is Siobhan’s brother, who seems to be lost in his own life back in Dublin. During the events of this book, he is visiting his sister in Dubai and even considering starting a new life for himself over there. Both his sister and mother are very protective over him and worry about his life path, but while they do advise him, they let him make his own decisions.
Joan is Siobhan and Trevor’s mother who is getting back into dating and focusing on herself after her late husband’s death. She worries for her children and deals with an alcoholic brother. She does not seem to appreciate the Dubai environment for her children.
Gete is Siobhan’s maid from Ethiopia. She was forced to come to Dubai in order to be able to send money to her family back home. The company she works for has kept her passport and so she can’t leave at her own free will. She works hard for little reward but hardly complains.
Tahir is a Pakistani taxi driver who works endless hours every day and who shares precarious accommodation with other immigrants who share the profession. His living conditions are deeply concerning, and he lives in the hope of returning home to his wife and daughters. Like Gete, his passport was also kept by his employer and therefore we can’t ignore how freedom has different definitions depending on who you are and how much you own.
Lydia is a Russian sex worker who knows how to support herself and do her job well. It would’ve been nice to see more to her than just her profession.
These characters are all linked by Hiyam’s death, which is the turning point in all of their lives.
For a novel that focuses so much on characters, the depth to which each one was explored was disappointing. With the exception of Tahir, Gete and, perhaps, Joan, it was hard to really fall for these people who are so focused on superficial aspects of life. While the purpose of the book is to show how inequality works in a place known by so many as showing a perfect front, the diversity within the characters wasn’t as well constructed as one would wish. There is definite greed and aches to contend with, but it is my personal view that there were simply too many characters involved in this narrative. Perhaps if the author had focused on a smaller number, it would’ve been possible to dive deeper into what made each one of them significant. The most striking case for this was Aasim. There was so much potential for this character, however, we only get to see him for a few pages and through all of them his main standout feature is how spoiled he is. So much could’ve been done with his character, especially with him not being able to be himself when it came to his own family and, moreover, with the death of his own sister, I felt like he was giving us no emotional density whatsoever. Tahir on the other hand, was the star of this book, “Tahir breathes deeply, trying to not let these thoughts take over. They do about once a shift, at a point long enough into the day that he starts to feel tired, but not close enough to the end of the twelve hours that he can think about returning to his bunk. There is no cure for the feeling deep in his stomach. Is this all there is? What is the point of existence?” (p.72). His story is truly heartbreaking, and he is unfortunately the perfect example of injustice in this world when it comes to those who don’t have many possessions. This was a character one wants to fight for, one wants to see saved in the end. Which brings me to another point. The ending seemed rushed and unsatisfactory for a book that at times seemed endless. We get to see a real world ending where not everything is tied with a bow, but after an entire novel that seemed fragmented in its transitions and after being introduced to so many characters and backstories, I believe the reader at least deserved an ending that didn’t feel unfinished.
While I congratulate the writer for trying to bring a diverse set of characters to life with this novel, I unfortunately felt like the effort fell short. While ambitious, this was an ankle-deep interpretation of very real hardships. I hope someone saved Tahir after that final period.

[Susan Lanigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this read. Jamie O'Connell writes convincing characters and milieu from all backgrounds in the strange state of Dubai. Well written in service to an interesting plot. Some minor pacing issues in the middle with Joan and Stevo slowing things down when the murder mystery bit was hotting up, and the end had a few unresolved bit, but in general a very accomplished debut and looking forward to reading more from Jamie.

[Juliet Bookliterati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diving for Pearls is the debut novelfrom Irish author Jamie O’Connell, and is set in the glitz and glamour that is Dubai. When a young woman is found floating in the Marina in Dubai, the ripples spread out to touch the lives of seven very different people in Dubai and in Dublin. Told from the points of view of seven different characters this is part thriller, part contemporary fiction, that raises many questions of people trafficking, race and the power of the rich.

Dubai is synonymous with money, luxury, the elite and opulence, with it’s beautiful beaches, the Burj Khalifia and shopping malls. But what Jamie O’Connell does in Diving for Pearls is show the contrast of two worlds, the glamour and money and those who are brought in to work, do the menial jobs like taxi drivers, builders, maids and sex workers, all through the eyes of seven people, all in some way connected to Dubai and with tenuous links to the murdered woman.

Aasim was brought up in Dubai, the son of a wealthy family, but he couldn’t wait to get away. Now a studying to be surgeon at Dublin University he can finally be himself, and no longer hide his sexuality. Being gay in Dubai is illegal, and could result in death, or prison at the least, but in Dublin he can openly live with his boyfriend. When he is called back to Dubai after the death of his sister, he struggles to tow the family line, he feels like an outsider and tensions rise, all he wants is to go back to Dublin. Joan lives in Cork, but her daughter Siobhan and her husband and children live in Dubai. Siobhan lives a life of luxury, spending money in the malls, lunch and brunch with other ex pats and has a maid to help her look after her two sons. The downside is that her husband works long hours. Joan’s son, Trevor, has a troubled past that is slowly revealed, and goes to stay with Siobhan with the aim of maybe starting a business out in Dubai. Interestingly he showed a lot of compassion towards Gete, Siobhan’s maid, finding it hard to get used to the privileged life his sister lives. Through his eyes we see how the glamour and riches are seen by those new to the city. He is stunned by the amount of money Siobhan spends, the heat and the extravagant lifestyles of her and her friends. Aasim, Siobhan and Trevor are all privilaged in their lives in Dubai, but there is a darker side, and not everything is shiney and bright.

Grete is maid to Siobhan. She was brought into Dubai from Ethiopia with promises of money that she sends home to her family. However, the agency that recruited her took her passport when she came into the country so she can’t go home until her contract has been completed, including money to be paid to the agency. Through Grete we learn that other maids are not treated as well as her, some are beaten or sexually abused by the male in the house. Tahir, like Grete, came to Dubai through an agency, also looking to make money for a better life for his family. He drives a taxi, ferrying the rich around Dubai, and off shift sleeps in a small room with seven other men, sharing a shower and a ring on an oven to make something to eat. The final character is Lydia, a sex worker from Russia. Sex outside marriage is illegal in Dubai, so whilst there is money to be made, there is also fear at being arrested. These characters show the injustice in Dubai, how those who are there to work, non white, not part of the elite, are seen as inferior, an shown no respect by the law or the rich.

Jamie O’Connell really brings to light the trafficking and seedier side of Dubai, something we probably don’t think about when we seen the sun and beautiful architecture. I also thought the irony of Siobhan and her family moving to Dubai for a better life, against Aasim, a native of Dubai wanting to escape to Dublin, very thought provoking; nowhere is perfect. Jamie O’Connell really captures both sides to Dubai, the light and the dark, the good and the bad, in his prose, catching the heady atmosphere Dubai offers, and those who live there. However, I did feel the book was a bit disjointed in parts, the seven points of view not coming together to make a whole story. I also felt that there was a lot of jumping between past and present in the characters stories with no precursor so it got a little confusing. There were also bits just dropped in, like Trevor doing a degree but no mention in what it was, I wanted more from the characters, more information that would have made me connect more. I have to say I didn’t even understand why the actor even appeared in the book as he played no role at all in the story, apart from adding to the idea of Dubai being a playground for the rich and famous.

Overall I did enjoy reading Diving for Pearls. I loved the setting of Dubai, a place I would love to visit, and the two contrasting sides to the city. Jamie O’Connell certainly captured the atmosphere and zeitgeist of Dubai,the luxury and the idea that money can just about buy anything, and the consumerism of the society we now live in. The diversity of the characters, their beliefs, their lifestyles, made for a fascinating read even though I would I have loved to learn more about them. The themes of injustice, discrimination, wealth versus poverty, sexuality and trafficking make for a thought provoking and compelling read. Was the conclusion fitting? I will let you decide.

[Lisa Spicer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ripples created by a stone thrown in a tranquil pool, or in this case a boulder.'- each wave represents one person whose life will be changed by the death of one young woman. The connections are by no means obvious as Jamie O'connell presents them to us one by one.

Set in Dubai, a place that has been founded on wealth; from the booming pearl industry to the discovery of oil, he paints the glittering city in all its glory and its grime. The opulence, the iconic buildings, the sheer decadence of the life that can be bought for the right price in this coastal city surrounded by sand is contrasted with the lives of those who do not have, those who are 'imported' to the country to serve, those who have their freedoms stripped from them, those who are constantly at the mercy of those whom they serve.. Scrutinised from all sides, we get a taste of the intricate, precarious workings of Dubai.

In addition, we have a strong backstory set in Dublin, over half of the characters are either from there or have left Dubai to make a life there. Drawn from O'Connell's own life, the contrasts are perfectly pitched and provide an interesting layer to the narrative.

What this books does perfectly is dispel that age old myth that money can buy you anything, more than the cliched happiness, it looks at where the true power is held in this place of excess and glamour. Money will give you more choices, absolutely, but it won't guarantee your freedom, no matter how deep your pocket - you should never forget that you are but a visitor in this place and the price of not playing by the rules could be catastrophic..

O'Connell has captured the heady, magnificent atmosphere of Dubai, while at the same time the oppressive, threatening nature of life should you find yourself at the mercy of the authorities.

Overall a thought-provoking read, but I felt that there were too many characters at play to enable me to totally immerse myself in any of them fully and for me it lost some of its cohesiveness because of it.

[Susan Stairs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this novel. I flew through it – and I’m a slow reader. Multi-layered, intriguing, hugely thought-provoking, unsettling and memorable. I like to ‘fall’ into a book, become fully immersed in the action, the setting and the characters’ lives. This can be difficult to achieve with a multi-narrative novel. The shifting perspectives can be jarring and sometimes not distinctive enough, and I can find the reading experience a little shallow. Not so with Diving for Pearls. Each character is brilliantly drawn in a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ manner, with nuanced and delicate writing that manages to give us a composite and sympathetic impression of personalities, capabilities, flaws and desires.
The novel opens with the body of a young girl floating in the Dubai marina. This provides the tension that underpins the plot, but it doesn’t overwhelm it. As the narrative progresses, we understand how each character is impacted by this girl’s death and how the opportunities afforded by the city of Dubai are built upon the sacrifices of many and the privilege of a few.
I particularly loved the portrayal of Gete, the quiet, reserved, and patient young girl from Ethiopia employed as a maid by Irish couple Siobhan and Martin. By contrast, Siobhan is nervy and frivolous with an energy that flies off the page. Gete’s measured reflections serve as an antidote to ‘Ma’am’s’ impulsiveness and this is one of the novel’s real successes. The highs and lows of a city like Dubai are so well described, but in a very subtle and intelligent manner, through the lives of those who have chosen to make it their home. Their everyday thoughts and actions, their choices, their reflections and, ultimately, their fates.
I can’t give any more praise than to say that I still think about these characters. I wonder what happened to them all. How they are doing, if they are okay. Diving for Pearls: A brilliant debut from Jamie O’Connell.

[Alison Starnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A disparate group of people is linked by the death of a young Arab woman in Dubai. One, her brother, is hiding his homosexuality from his family. Another is a Russian prostitute. A third is a Pakistani taxi driver. There is an Irish woman with two spoiled children and their Ethiopian maid, a husband who is working away, and her brother who has just arrived on holiday.

As the investigation proceeds, we see behind the facade of Dubai, the glittering vistas and skyscrapers, and opulent lifestyles, and are shown the cold, hard reality of life underneath. The brutality of a father and brother whose hardline attitude condemns an innocent man to prison, the feckless businessman whose affair splits his family apart, the maid who dreams of setting up her own business but is trapped without her passport.

I didn't particularly enjoy this story, mainly because many of the characters were difficult to invest in; however, the oppressiveness of Dubai was well rendered as well as the sense of hopelessness and the superficial lifestyle. The rich can buy just about anything, and those who are brought over to work have few if any rights. There is a strong sense of injustice that isn't fully resolved by the end of the novel and this didn't sit well with me.

Gete, the maid, came over well and I also grew to like Trevor, who seemed vulnerable somehow. Tahir was a good man trapped in an endless cycle of sleeping, eating and driving rich people around.

There is an interesting dichotomy between Siobhan and her family leaving Ireland for a better life and Aasim who wants to escape Dubai to return to his studies and boyfriend in Dublin. Aasim is complex, torn between love for his mother and his sexuality. I would have liked to know where things ended up with him but we aren't told.

The story is well written but in the end it didn't engage me enough.

I was sent an advance review copy of this book by Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, in return for an honest appraisal.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Underneath the glitz and glamour, there are very dirty foundations.

A woman is found floating in the marina in Dubai and her death brings very different fates for 6 six people in a city which only benefits the wealthy.

Siobhan and her husband Martin moved out to Dubai from Ireland seeking a better life. They easily fall into the lavish expat lifestyle surrendering to the designer labels, glistening skyscrapers and highly indulgent weekend brunches. Her brother Trevor comes over to visit with the possibility of moving to Dubai also.

Gete left her home in Ethiopia seeking work as a maid to send money home to her family. In similar circumstances, Tahir came to Dubai from Pakistan to work as a taxi driver as he has high dreams and aspirations for his daughter. Lydia, a Russian model who moved to Dubai on the promises of a lavish life only to fall into the underground world of prostitution. And then there’s Aasim who is an Emirate national but is studying at university in Dublin. He strives for his freedom from his family and Muslim conforms.

For all those who uprooted their lives and moved to Dubai they did so to fulfil their aspirations, they are searching for a better life. But what lies beneath the surface is classism and corruption and eventually, the cracks begin to appear and the reality of being trapped becomes very real.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Through each chapter, we learn more from the different perspectives of Siobhan, Trevor, Gete, Tahir, Lydia and Aasim, and as the story unfolds, the reader is submerged into the wonders of Dubai, right the way down to the grotty foundations. The ending infuriated me as it did leave me dissatisfied, however, it couldn’t end any other way, if it did it would be false. It would be covering up reality. Brilliant debut!

[Petra · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's something intensely fascinating but at the same time also intensely repulsive about Dubai. Such an obscene show of wealth, built on the misery of others.
Diving for Pearls starts when a girl's body is found floating in the Marina. It turns out that she is from a wealthy Emirate family and from here on in we're introduced to the class hierachy in Dubai. At the top come the wealthy Emirates, followed by wealthy Western business people and tourists and the bottom of the pile is all the hired help and working immigrants who actually do all the work building the place and keeping everything running smoothly.
We meet various characters who have come to Dubai to earn money. Siobhan and Martin from Ireland are living the high life. Martin is always away working and Siobhan just spends, spends, spends – but interestingly, most of the designer goods she buys are fakes, which just amplifies the whole 'smoke and mirrors' aspect to places like Dubai.
Siobhan's live-in Nanny/Maid, Gete, is from Ethiopia and whilst she is treated better by the Irish family than some of the maids she knows (ie, she's not raped by the master of the house) she still has had her passport taken from her as soon as she entered the country by a work agency.
Siobhan's brother comes over from Ireland to visit and whilst he is keen to put his troubled past in Ireland behind him, she wants to find him work as a personal trainer in Dubai so he can enjoy her quality of life.
Trevor is a likeable character who manages to bridge the void between those who have and those who have not. Whereas Siobhan is annoyingly grasping and her sons are spoilt beyond belief.

Tahir is a taxi driver from Pakistan who works incredibly hard in order to make a better future for his wife and daughters back home. But his tenuous link to the death of the girl (she was a passenger in his taxi on the night she died) makes him an ideal scapegoat for the Police, even though their evidence points elsewhere. He is jailed, without any legal help or help from the Embassy and it's heart-breaking that he knows that he is being held responsible and can't do anything to help himself.

This is such a great book and really marks out the huge gulf between the glitter and gold facade of Dubai and it's dirty and corrupt foudations.
Considering that most of the characters come to better them selves, it's. depressing to see that they become trapped and unable to leave.

* Thanks to Random House UK and Netgalley for the ARC.

[madiha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good lord. I have so much to say and not enough words. But I should start somewhere.

As someone who was born and brought up in Dubai, who considers it home even though I'll never have the passport, or am allowed to stay here indefinitely, this book pierced my heart in such an agonizing way. It was truthful and honest and raw and I hate that I love this city despite its many many flaws. I'm more from the Sharjah side of UAE than Dubai but the boundaries between them have always been blurred.

Dubai glitters so hard, the layer of muck underneath stays hidden. It's glorious and magnificent but utterly brutal if you're on the wrong side of it. But growing up here, I've SEEN the city slowly crawl towards the metropolis it is now and though I know the unfairness of it all, though it disgusts me, I feel nostalgic for it but I can never belong in it. It is home and yet it is not.

As for the book, though it had a shaky start, it picked up the pace and connected the dots well enough. I love the butterfly effect depicted throughout. How because of one man's actions, the lives of a dozen people get affected to such a degree. Could have done better with the actual mystery itself. We basically know nothing about the girl who died, mainly WHY. Or how exactly did the scene of her murder unfold, or whether it was an accident. The epilogue felt pretty half-assed too. There should have been proper conclusions (I know their storyline was pretty much over but still) for the other characters as well. Something to show that they are carrying on.

My heart hurts for Tahir but that's the harsh reality of it. Money is power. Legacy is power. Blood is power. Status is power.

P.S. No one here calls the cabs and taxis "RTA" like come on, that's not what it is. Smh. And I know there's a fair share of them, but we don't see Ferraris and Lamborghinis everytime we go out 😭

[Alyson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having read the blurb for this book I was excited to read it especially having spent some time in Dubai myself.
The story concerns the death and apparent murder of young Emerati girl. Because she is from a (very) wealthy family there is a large and concerted police investigation into her death. Various people are arrested and questioned on suspicion of having something to do with her death.
And here in lies part of the problem for me. We are introduced in the early chapters to a considerable number of characters all of whom have something (remotely in some cases) to do with the situation. From about half way in the novel the pace picks up and things appear to be moving and the reader feels that they will learn what happened but the story ends abruptly without resolution and leaving several of the characters hanging. Moreover we never actually meet the character who was possibly/probably guilty for the girl's death and we only find out who was blamed in the epilogue.
None of the main characters come across as particularly likeable and some of them are extremely flawed.
For me the best part of the book were descriptions of Dubai, the lifestyle of (some of) the expats living there and the appalling social divisions that exist. The buildings, the wealth, the shopping malls, the restaurants and the nice touch of the film star climbing from the top of the Burj Khalifa were a great backdrop and well described. The few chapters set in Ireland were also fully believable.
Sadly I will go to bed tonight going through different ending scenarios for the plot because the one provided was inadequate and unsatisfying.
With thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for the chance to read this novel in return for an honest review.

[Ilana · Rating 4 out of 5]

While ´an international star´ was about ´to conquer the world´s tallest building´ a young rich girl from a Muslim family in Dubai was living her last moments of her life. Hiyam corpse will be soon discovered floating at Dubai Marina and a search for the perpetrator will soon start. A search that will change the life of at least six persons for ever.

Diving for Pearls, the promising debut novel by Jamie O´Connell is a highly entertaining and besides the whole glamour that is associated with Dubai and is well present into the book, it has a very thoughtful - not always obvious in the story - line. It is a deeply philosophical thought about the sadness of the dreams sunken when meeting the brutal reality. Almost all of the six of the persons in the book affected by th crime are here looking for a dream - a better future back home, sending money to their poor families, hiding their troubled past, hiding their own self.

The book is rich in various stories intertwined with a focus on the human nature and their liabilities, the weaknesses that we rarely see through the everyday mask we wear, including in relation with other family members. The story may looks sometimes like a ping-pong game from a character to another with the clear connections between the characters reveals only later but at the end of it I had the good feeling of exhaustion because it is not such an easy reading.

Diving for Pearls is more than a story about finding the culprit of a crime but about life stories and human expectations and betrayal. I´ve found the reading intense and kept me interested until the very end, although I wished the stories within the stories a bit more sharp and focused.

Disclaimer: Book offered part of a book blog tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

[Cheryl M-M · Rating 5 out of 5]

What Diving for Pearls most definitely isn't is a crime novel. It's a contemporary read, a bit like a fractured tandem plot - equally weighted stories constructed around a slip of a narrative. The actual catalyst event, which is the death of the young local girl, becomes entirely inconsequential to all the surrounding stories and yet is the reason for all of them.

Without Hiyam there is no story or connecting thread, and yet she is the least important aspect of the read. I have to admit letting go of the not knowing was a bit of a task, but then I also think that was the point. The lack of closure is synonymous with the lack of power, voice and control all of the characters have in common in relation to where they are and who they are.

A symbol of cultures dividing and simultaneously the acknowledgement that the East will not bend and the West must be submissive to their rules with the West and others bending until breaking point. I often wonder about the Westerners who like to play loose and fast at their own peril overseas - diving for those pearls, they are pandered to until it no longer suits the narrative.

This is also evident in the stories of Lydia, Siobhan and Aasim. All three of them recognise the danger of being an outsider and being trapped in the claws of a regime that appears to be the picture of opulence, modern society and the face of the future. The truth is its the dark ages hidden behind a layer of gold, diamonds and a fantastical mirage.

It's literary fiction, a snake devouring its own tail, a beginning without an end.

*I received a courtesy copy*