A Caravan of Brides: A Novel of Saudi Arabia

by Kay Hardy Campbell

After attending college in Lebanon, Fawzia returns home to Jeddah and takes up secretly with her forbidden college sweetheart. When her reckless behavior leads to family tragedy, she is drawn into an unlikely friendship with a mysterious old storyteller, the niece of a legendary tribal chief.Narrated by Fawzia and the storyteller Salma, A CARAVAN OF BRIDES celebrates the dangerous melody that love sings in each generation, as it brings the world of Saudi women, past and present, into focus with a tender touch. Travel with memorable characters across Arabia, from the ancient cities of Jeddah and Mecca, to a peaceful mountain valley, forbidding northern deserts, and a storied oasis town once known for tolerance and open-mindedness.

Genres: Middle East, Fiction, Historical Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2017

About the author

From Kay: I was born in Abington, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Massachusetts and Minnesota. Along the way I developed a lifelong fascination for the Middle East, especially the Arabian Peninsula. I earned a BA in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Minnesota and a Master’s Degree from Harvard in Middle Eastern Studies. I lived in Saudi Arabia for several years with my American husband, (my college sweetheart and a fellow student of Arabic). While living in the kingdom, I began writing cultural features for the English language dailies, the Arab News and the Saudi Gazette. Researching stories gave me a professional excuse to explore the culture and meet many fascinating people. Since returning to the U.S., I've traveled back to Saudi Arabia three times on assignment for AramcoWorld Magazine to write about Saudi culture, women and the arts. I first visited Morocco in 2005, and immediately fell in love with the medina (old city) of Fez. The medina inspired me to write The Sons of Fez, for I feel that there is something to learn from every stroll I take through its streets and alleys. While I'm still fascinated with the Middle East, I do write about other things too. My short fiction has appeared in the Aroostook Review, my features and essays in Chamber Music America, Down East, and Cabin Life, and poetry in the literary journal Mizna. Other great passions include Arabic music as well as the folk music and folk dances of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. I play Arabic music and am co-founder and administrative director of the Arabic Music Retreat. My husband and I live in Maine.

Reviews

[Mina MacGabhann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this book. The story is beautiful. I fell in love with the characters right away.
I finished it yesterday, and immedietly started it over again.
Highly recommended.

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book while I was killing time in a busy doctor's office, and couldn't put it down. There are so many things I love about this book. It has compelling characters -- I cared deeply about them and felt like I was living their stories with them. It has a lot of romance, and the course of true love does not run smoothly. But the best thing, for me, was the sense of actually being in the various locations in Saudi Arabia featured in the book. The author has spent considerable time there, and she skillfully weaves in history and culture without ever sounding pedantic or boring. Highly recommended!

[Liezel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dear, adventurous friend of mine is traveling in Saudi Arabia and I decided to ‘join’ her, by reading this book. In short, it follows two intriguing woman through their lives, with a focus at their youth at the turn of the century and the 70’s respectively. Based on this portrayal, I can only describe it as ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ in the dessert. Complete with religious doctrine, men ruling unchallenged and creepy greetings. Looking a bit deeper, what made me love this book was the amazing relationships between the woman. They depend on each other in a way I will never understand, for friendship, for support, for entertainment and for advice. A picturesque book in ever way. Loved it!

[EllenCoyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I seldom read a book twice but in this case I have. I loved the story within a story within a story which gives you a historical perspective of Saudi women. This book gives a wonderful view into the culture of these women whose lives are very different from our Western experience. Well worth reading!

[Yvonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great! Our book group of 10 all loved this insightful read. Would highly recommend!

[Chuckles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book! I found it as I was looking for stories set in Saudi Arabia, specifically Jeddah where I lived for a couple of years roughly twenty years ago. I was initially skeptical as the author is an American woman, but her background, which included several years of living in Saudi Arabia and writing for Saudi media and extensive education on the region, made me give it a try. So glad I did.

The book is set up with the story within a story. I won't rehash the book description, but in short there is the story of Fawzia, a Sunni from Jeddah who fell in love with a fellow student while in Lebanon. But he is a Shia from the east. If you don't know, that would be at best frowned up even today, but in 1979 where Fawzia's story begins, even in her progressive family it was problematic. She comes to meet Salma, an elderly Bedouin woman who lives in a nearby palace. As their friendship develops, Fawzia joins Salma in the desert where many Saudi women actually find more freedom and where Salma tells Fawzia her story which also features forbidden love and the consequences it befell upon her to that day.

Just a beautiful story and the author is a wonderful writer; I could really see the landscapes, hear the music, smell the spices, and feel the soft winds. So descriptive but not overly so, a perfect balance.

The ending was amazing, she really pulled it all together without it becoming too smarmy.

It appears this book was self-published, which shocks me, I can't believe no publishers were interested but I guess a book about Saudi Arabia that isn't an expose type story isn't seen as highly marketable, nor one written by a white American woman. But this books transcends stereotypes and labels. And as a self-published book it appears anything but, quality printing, cover, no proof-reading misses that I saw, I only discovered it might be self-published after I did more research on the book and author after reading it.

One of the best books I have read in the past few years for sure.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful work of writing! I enjoyed reading this book so much, didn’t want it to finish. Still can’t believe it is written by an American author, the details of the Saudi life are described so well.

I love to read about the strong characters of the Arabian women, I know a lot of them in real life and they are strong and independent to the extent it is allowed by the society.

The main character Fawziya felt very familiar to me and I can totally see myself in her. I have a friend also called Ibtisam and the whole time I was thinking of her, reading about what happened on that cursed day.

Even today, most people would face troubles getting married if they were from Sunni and Shia origins, I would imagine how hard-core it was back then….

Definitely looking forward to read the other book.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, and the cultural strictures on females and female/male relationships, revealed through the stories of two Arab women from different generations, is riveting. I couldn't wait to pick up the book each day to continue their life journeys to see how they handled consequences of taboo relationships. Thought provoking about Arab society, families, love, women's strength, and women's relationships through the story of these strong women. Time well spent.

[Eric E · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. It reminds me of a Tony Hillman book in terms of providing a cultural glimpse, although it isn't a mystery. Characters are engaging and pace is good. The story line provides some different levels and is complex enough to hold my interest. I would definitely recommend it.

[Jean Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book for its imaginative thrust and its realism--odd to have these two attributes together but that's what gives this book its originality. A real tour de force! I've lived in Saudi Arabia and appreciate the new perspective that Kay Hardy Campbell gives us. And such a beautiful cover!

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was whisked away in the very first pages...what a lovely read. This book makes me want to gather and share my family stories.

[Julie Kortum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty mushy; interesting stories but even the difficulties are told w a rosy sheen.

[AJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not my usual sort of fiction, but I saw some of my dancer friends getting excited about it so I decided to give it a try, and sure enough it was a pleasant read.

A Caravan of Brides features a story-within-a-story. We first meet our narrator and learn about her secret relationship with a young man her family would disapprove of (one family is Shia and the other is Sunni, and like any religious difference will inevitably lead to parental concern about marital harmony and how you'll raise the kids). She meets an older woman and they become fast friends, so she goes to spend the summer in the mountains with her and learns this woman's life story.

The author herself is not a Saudi woman, but has lived in the country and extensively studied it. At times her whiteness shows a bit in the narration, but over all I felt like she did an excellent job of being respectful of the Saudi people and their Islamic faith and their customs. Her characters didn't feel like stereotypes and there's a fair attention to detail. And I think writing from an outsider's perspective allowed her to not take some things for granted, providing explanations for things that someone who has never visited Saudi Arabia (like me) wouldn't already know.

I really enjoyed that the author found ways to portray women as strong and independent even in a culture that allows them limited freedom, and without making them seem like victims. Although they might long for more than they have, they knew how to work within the strictures of their society.

A fun note was that the epilogue takes place in 2019 and featured the narrator driving her own car, in Saudi Arabia. I thought that was awfully optimistic of the author, and yet less than a month after I finished reading, women did in fact gain the legal right to drive. May this be the first of many rights they gain.

[Hamza · Rating 2 out of 5]

if the handmaids tale was based in the middle east, except this is not a dystopian story like the handmaids tale, it’s a reality lived by every woman every day in the patriarchal islamic world… enjoyed all the history but still felt that the stories/messed up living conditions are very romanticized. not my thing.

[Mary Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book about women's lives in Saudi Arabia.

[tardisofcats]

To be finished reading on a later date starting from/on/on page 37.