Yousef Al-Mohaimeed Books In Order

Wolves of the Crescent Moon

Banned in Saudi Arabia, this provocative, fast paced debut novel confirms what The Washington Post reported about its award winning author: ‘Yousef Al Mohaimeed is taking on some of the most divisive subjects in the Arab world…
in a lush style that evokes Gabriel Garc a M rquez.’ In a Riyadh bus station, a man comes across a file containing official reports about an abandoned baby. As he pieces together the shattered life documented within, a larger picture emerges of three outsiders a Bedouin, an orphan, and a eunuch linked by fate and trying to make lives for themselves in a predatory city. Unfolding with the intensity of a fever dream over the course of one night, Wolves of the Crescent Moon is a novel of astonishing power and great moral consequence about a deeply traditional society confronting the modern world.

Munira’s Bottle

In Riyadh, against the events of the second Gulf War and Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait, we learn the story of Munira with the gorgeous eyes and the unspeakable tragedy she suffers as her male nemesis wreaks revenge for an insult to his character and manhood. It is also the tale of many other women of Saudi Arabia who pass through the remand center where Munira works, victims and perpetrators of crimes, characters pained and tormented, trapped in cocoons of silence and fear. Munira records their stories on pieces of paper that she folds up and places in the mysterious bottle given to her long ago by her grandmother, a repository for the stories of the dead, that they might live again.

This controversial novel looks at many of the issues that characterize the lives of women in modern Saudi society, including magic and envy, honor and revenge, and the strict moral code that dictates male female interaction.

Madinah

Conjuring the unpredictability of city life in the Middle East, this compilation of stories reveals the metropolis itself through a vibrant assortment of personalities. From the celebrated author collecting an award in the city that exiled him decades before to the forlorn lover waiting at a rendezvous as government officials raid nearby shops, this anthology shows how urban existence is changing faster than ever. Additional tales include engineers racing to complete another world’s tallest building in Dubai, American helicopters patrolling the Martyrs Bridge in Baghdad, and an Israeli general who invites guests to watch promotional videos for the tank that will win the next war while eating biscuits and reciting poetry, all revealing that it is not the landmarks but the people that define the communities across this region. Opening the door to a diversity of subtle and concealed elements, these narratives illustrate how much is not known about this fascinating part of the world.