i did not know the writer had lived in Saudi and Egypt but nowhere did details clash with what I knew from my time in Jordan or my Iraqi friends. So after a while I started to read thw cultural details as facts and they were interesting. The novel is filled with them and great food ideas. But I tought Baba Hanoush was made with eggplants? Are you sure you are not mixing it with the cucumber dish Tzaziki?

A shy American young woman, the child of famous musicians, meets a university professor in California . He is around then years older than she is and from an Arabian country. Via him the lonely girl gets introduced to the students of her own age who he mentors and they become great friends and have a lot of fun. She however fears he will return home one day.