Diving For Pearls by Jamie O’Connell
A young woman’s body floats in the Dubai marina. Her death alters the fates of six people, each one striving for a better life in an unforgiving city…
A young Irish man comes to stay with his sister, keen to erase his troubled past in the heat of the Dubai sun. A Russian sex worker has outsmarted the system so far – but will her luck run out? A Pakistani taxi driver dreams of a future for his daughters. An Emirate man hides the truth about who he really is. An Ethiopian maid tries to carve out a path of her own. From every corner of the globe, Dubai has made promises to them all. Promises of gilded opportunities and bright new horizons, the chance to forget the past and protect long-held secrets.
But Dubai breaks its promises, with deadly consequences. In a city of mirages, how do you find your way out?O’Connell expertly weaves a delicate web of intertwining stories, combining dark wit, and devastating emotional truth as fates collide and lives are shattered.
About the author.
JAMIE O'CONNELL has had short stories highly commended by the Costa Short Story Award and the Irish Book Award Short Story of the Year. He has been longlisted for BBC Radio 4 Opening Lines Short Story Competition and shortlisted for the Maeve Binchy Travel Award and the Sky Arts Futures Fund. He has an MFA and MA in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. He has worked for Penguin Random House, Gill Books and O'Brien Press. Diving for Pearls is his first novel.
Review
‘Diving For Pearls’ aims to show us all sides of the city that is Dubai. From the wealth and the glamour to that of hidden lives and those who live in abject poverty. It's an analysis of who's life is the most important - those with the wealth or those who are literally building the city.
A young Emirati girl is found floating in Dubai marina and will cause shock waves throughout the whole of Dubai’s society. You get to see the story unfold via a myriad of characters - her brother, Siobhan an Irish expat and her brother Trevor, her maid Gete, a taxi driver Tahir and a prostitute Lydia. All touch upon the case in some way and it's really intriguing to see how each character is affected in turn.
I found myself on the side of team ‘poor Dubai’. I went to Dubai for part of my honeymoon and I have to admit that I hated it. Basically, if you don't have money it's not the place for you unless you are desperate to earn money to send back to your families. I felt heart sorry for Tahir and Gete and the rest of the maids who have to leave their families for year's at a time to earn a pittance. Plus the way the balance of ‘justice’ is weighed makes me heartsick.
This is a question for the author - why didn't you name the ‘actor’ as being Tom Cruise as we all know that you are referencing him? Is it a copyright issue?
This is an intriguing and at times eye-opening look into the world of Dubai, which highlights the imbalance of the city.
