Inshallah (God willing) tells the tale of a handsome English Christian boy and a beautiful Saudi Muslim girl who quite by accident fall in love in a country where the relationship is impossible. Banned on both religious and cultural grounds the difficulties the couple have to surmount leads the story through many twists and turns to the point where they are discovered by her brother. At this point the brother has the choice of supporting his sister or his religion and it is this dilemma gives an insight into the workings of a Muslim Saudi mind.
Originally written in 1978 it is of that time when Saudi Arabia had recently become a united country but a country of contrasts, between the more and less religious elements, between the rich and the poor, between a desire to modernize and a desire to maintain the discipline of the old. This forms the background to the novel and highlights the challenges facing the young couple.
The end leaves the reader to make up their own mind as to rights and wrongs of the tale.
Targeted Age Group:
18+
How is Writing In Your Genre Different from Others?
Whilst being a romantic story of two people from Christian and Muslim backgrounds who fall in love. It also through the twists and turns of their romance illustrates the difficulties in culture and religion, especially when the pair are discovered by the girls brother shows the Muslim beliefs against a background of western standards. It is a book that can be read just as a story or as an explanation of relationships for the expatriate community.
What Advice Would You Give Aspiring Writers?
Marketing your book is the most difficult part of being an author, one can get tired and give up but if you believe in your story keep going.
Author Bio:
I’m Sybil Powell, wife, mother, friend, entrepreneur, traveler and now an author of books which reflect many of those life experiences.
I spent most of my childhood in a seaside resort town on the south coast of my native England. Eastbourne was a wonderful place to grow up, but sheltered just enough to make me want to go out and spread my wings and see what the rest of the world had to offer! That adventure started after I married a wonderful, young serviceman. After settling into life in the forces, we moved to Germany where we lived for a couple of years. On returning to England and civilian life, we settled in the north where I found work in the more heavily industrialized world of Yorkshire. Very different from the life I had known in a seaside resort!
I loved living in and learning about the lifestyles in different parts of England, but my education really expanded when we moved half the world away to Saudi Arabia. The contrast between the coastal mountain areas and the inland, desert cities along with the rich culture and traditions going back literally thousands of years, is something which has affected my life and my writing ever since.
Eventually we bid ‘Adieu’ to those exotic, arid lands and returned to the UK. Back home again, I started my own business—a secretarial agency which provided companies with the then-fledgling service of a virtual assistant.
We’ve now moved again and this time to Wales, where I’ve settled into my writing career, and very happily draw on my many experiences both at home and abroad. Because those experiences have been so diverse, my books tend to be very different from each other and stand on their own- in plot, characters, culture and background.
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
The book was inspired at a time when I was living in Saudi Arabia and became aware of the many misunderstandings between expatriates and the nationals. I wrote this novel to try to explain the differences and help understanding in an entertaining way.
Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
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