The Occasional Virgin - Softcover

Brilliant ... A modern Jane Austen comedy, wise, witty and unexpectedly profound -- Alberto Manguel Magical ... Bursting with jinnis and mischief * Donna Tartt, The Times Book of the Year on One Thousand and One Nights * A wondrously warm, ribald and hilarious concoction * Hanif Kureishi, Guardian Books of the Year on One Thousand and One Nights * Al-Shaykh brings her tales to life with a wonderful earthy immediacy, informal and intimate * New York Times on One Thousand and One Nights * What a woman!!! What a storyteller!!! -- Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis One of the finest writers of her generation * Financial Times * Al-Shaykh is an important Arab vioce which must be heard now * The Times * A fearless, pioneering writer * Independent * One of the most courageous writers of the Arab world. Her novels ... have drastically changed how women in the Middle East are perceived -- Rabih Alameddine Magically brings to life a usually ignored slice of the capital with a sharply drawn cast of characters. A fresh, amusing and surprising take on London, and on life * The Times on Only in London * An exquisite, drying romantic story about expatriate Arab women, brilliantly assured in its understanding of the permeability of cultures * Observer Books of the Year on Only in London *

From a major novelist of the Arab world comes a bold, witty and highly contemporary novel about two women looking for love, set in Italy, Lebanon and London Huda and Yvonne are on holiday in the Italian Riviera, enjoying the sun and the sparkling Mediterranean, reminiscent of their childhoods in Lebanon. Yvonne doesn't know what she's doing wrong, either there or back in London where she runs an ad agency - she seems to spend her time waiting for the right man to come along and not leave again just as quickly. Her friend Huda has no problems in this department, only she isn't really interested in her effect on men - till Hisham comes along. But it isn't love spurring Huda on, it's her desire to teach him a lesson. Because while you can't escape your past, you can perhaps avenge it. Frank, funny and fearless, The Occasional Virgin is the colourful, wickedly entertaining story of two unforgettable women and the lengths we'll go to for love.