Eight Months on Ghazzah Street

Über

Eight Months on Ghazzah Street is the third novel by English author Hilary Mantel, who won the Man Booker Prize in 2009. It concerns the Englishwoman Frances Shore, who moves to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to live with her husband, an engineer.
Based on Mantel's own experiences in Saudi Arabia, the novel explores different peoples' struggles with the contrast in cultures, including those of people of different Islamic cultures, and the misunderstandings between the Saudis and Westerners, as well as between women and men. Mantel felt the book anticipated later developments in the culture clash between Islam and the West: “I felt a bit frustrated because as events developed, I had a sort of I-told-you-so feeling.”