Finding Nouf is a both a taut psychological-suspense novel and a work that offers an unprecedented window into Saudi Arabia and the lives of men and women there. When sixteen-year-old Nouf goes missing, her prominent family calls on Nayir al-Sharqi, a desert guide, to lead a search party. Ten days later, Nouf’s body is discovered by anonymous desert travelers. But when the coroner’s office determines that Nouf died not of dehydration but from drowning, and her family seems suspiciously uninterested in getting at the truth, Nayir takes it upon himself to find out what really happened to her. This mission will push gentle, hulking, pious Nayir, to delve into the secret life of a rich, protected teenage girl — in one of the most rigidly gender-segregated of Middle Eastern societies. To do so, he will have to join forces with Katya Hijazi, a female lab worker. Their partnership challenges Nayir, bringing him face to face with his desire for female companionship and the limitations imposed by his beliefs.
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