Light of the Desert, by Lucette Walters, is a book that you will definitely want to read. It has a very unusual storyline. I will give you a quick synopsis. It starts with an Arabic family in Jordan. The patriarch of the family, Farid Fendl, has five children. The oldest daughter, Noora, is planning on marrying Michel, the son of a man who Farid wants to do business with. But her younger sister, Zaffeera, figures out a way to have Noora disgrace the family. Farid attempts to drown Noora as an "honor killing" for what she has done to the family's reputation. He believes that he has succeeded...but has he? You will find out right at the beginning of the book that he hasn't.
So the rest of the book follows Noora's adventures around the world. She takes on a new name and recreates herself. I don't want to give anything away. But suffice it to say that Zaffeera has taken much advantage of Noora's "death" to further her own ambitions. She sets her sights on Michel. You will be very interested to see how that turns out.
This book was very hard to put down. It not only follows Noora's path, but it also delves into the lives of the other main characters, including Farid and Zaffeera. There are others who pop in that you will also find yourself rooting for or, in some cases, hoping they go away.
The only other things I will tell you is that, first, I definitely teared up a couple of times late in the book. And, secondly, pay special attention to the last sentence on page 540. I think you might be nodding your head.
