Un jardin au désert / A Garden in the Desert – Fernandez

Information

Author:

Carine Fernandez

Date:

Les Escales
April 2019

Category:

2. General Fiction , 4. Women's Fiction , Les Escales

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Additional Info

A GARDEN IN THE DESERT

Rights Holder: Les Escales
Original Language: French

A family saga set in Saudi Arabia with a secret that could destroy everything and everyone…

In the surrounding area of Riyad, Tahal Bahamar is the eccentric patriarch of a large family with several wives and even more children. But most importantly, there is Dalia, his cherished granddaughter who is on the cusp of turning 18. He stole her away from her British mother, his son’s ex-wife Sylvia, so that she could be raised properly in the family’s homeland. Dalia simply thinks that her mother never cared about getting her back while that’s all Sylvia ever wanted.

Amongst the different generations and Talal’s sparring sons, there is little room for peace. But when Tahal meets his Egyptian gardener Rezak, an almost filial relationship is formed between the two which will make the old man question much of what he knew. Especially when he watches Rezak and Dalia form a special bond. But nothing can risk his secret from coming out. It could destroy the family legacy.

From the palm trees to the skyscrapers, Carine Fernandez delivers a saga over four generations of the Bahamar family linked by blood, money and secrets, with Saudi Arabia and its politics and society as the backdrop.

Carine Fernandez has written several novels with Acte Sud: La Servante abyssine, La Comédie du Caire and La Saison rouge. She is also the author of Identités barbares (JC Lattès, 2014) and Mille ans après la guerre (Les Escales, 2017). A long time expatriate in the Middle East and the United States, she currently lives in Lyon. In 2018, she received the Henri de Régnier prize from the Académie Française and will be the Printemps des poètes’ sponsor in 2019.

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