“A life of extraordinary stories”
- Book: Gazelle In The Shadows
- Location: Syria
- Author: Michelle Peach
Oh My Goodness! I read this one in a couple of sittings and I seriously didn’t want it to end, although I’m pleased for Elizabeth that it did, because I felt that things could have only gone in one direction eventually and that outcome would not have been good!
This is the latest in an ever-growing genre of books, where there is a delicious blend of fact and fiction, which has me in thrall, but also longing – No! needing, to know just where fact ends and fiction begins. Michelle has an amazing knack of blurring the edges between the two beautifully and she does say in her guest post that the ratio is about 75% fact, 25% fiction. Usually that would be good enough for me, however given the intense and downright frightening nature of this storyline, I can’t even begin to assimilate that 75% of what is documented in these relatively few pages, actually happened to her, although my extensive research hasn’t thrown up any enlightening articles or reference material about events described, which I had hoped it might, just to satisfy my own curiosity. I do hope that any comments and observations I might make, do not in any way diminish Michelle’s undoubtedly horrific personal experiences, as that is the downside to not being able to separate fact from fiction.
Michelle owns this gripping, multi-layered story right from the outset, writing maturely with consummate ease, seasoned authority, confidence, and more importantly, right from the heart. She sets a cracking pace, which never lets up and goes from one heart-stopping moment to the next, without so much as missing a pen-stroke. So much action and emotion is packed into such a short discourse and there isn’t a single wasted word in either the depth and strength of the meaningful dialogue, or the visually descriptive, culturally explicit and wide-ranging narrative.
This is a storyline which has been well constructed, has an all-pervading air of tension, with plenty of depth and texture. The nail biting angst grabbed me right from the first page and never let me go until the very last word was read and I could breathe that long held sigh of relief. Although I had no idea just how bad things were going to get for Elizabeth and a happy ending of any description was by no means a certainty, I had worked out what was going on quite early on in the story, which may have been more of a curse than a blessing. I found myself wanting to physically shake a thoroughly manipulated and duped Elizabeth out of her blinkered stupor, as this is a story I have personally heard so many times before, which is why I was taken on such a unique and individual journey, which often made me physically uncomfortable and deeply troubled. However, hindsight is a wonderful thing and a very young and immature Elizabeth, really is as ‘green as grass’ and so very naive about the ways of the world and the wiles of experienced groomers. A little surprising perhaps, as this trip to the Middle East is not her first and she has previously held down quite a responsible job, in another area within the region. Michelle did have one or two tricks up her sleeve for Elizabeth though and those extra added twists and turns that I never quite saw coming, really ratcheted up the fear factor to another level.
Michelle has also created an emotionally complex cast of characters which definitely fall into two camps. Elizabeth and her friends, who seem ill prepared either emotionally, physically or practically for life in the Middle East, don’t appear to have done any research about the complex where they are going to study, or indeed where they should be lodging during their stay to keep themselves as safe as possible. I can’t believe that any responsible parent would have allowed such a situation to develop, given the ongoing fighting and terrorist activity in the area at that time, and for that reason alone I found it quite difficult to relate to this small, vulnerable group of students, who seem to have little synergy between them and who don’t really believe in looking out for one another. I did also actually feel a little sorrow and sympathy for the local girls in the bordello, who in their own way were just as much a victim of circumstance as Elizabeth herself.
Hussein and his cohorts really are multi-faceted characters you can only hate and loathe and to that extent Michelle really did an excellent job of making them get right under my skin. They were manipulative, played on the vulnerabilities and immaturity of unsuspecting individuals, but particularly females and didn’t think twice about disposing of an asset when it was no longer useful or viable. I was no more enamoured of the ‘diplomats’ (AKA spies and secret service), who were so say on ‘our side’ and who also didn’t think twice about using such a ‘flaky’ individual as Elizabeth to do their bidding, without any real thought or consideration for her safety.
It was only by better luck than judgement that this whole debacle ended without more bloodshed and tears!
Oh! and if, like me, you were intrigued by the seemingly delightful title Michelle chose for the book, pay close attention to the dialogue exchanges between Elizabeth and Hussein. Whilst there may be some modicum of truthful reality surrounding the choice of words, the context in which they were used, made me cringe in abject horror and terror.
A factual account, a fiction story, an espionage thriller which probably sits in both camps, and a work of Middle Eastern cultural heritage, make this one of my favourite reads for the year so far!
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