- Paperback: 268 pages
- Publisher: CreateSpace (20 Nov 2011)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1466465719
- ISBN-13: 978-1466465718
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 12.7 x 1.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 562,829 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Olives
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Product Description
Product Description
When Paul Stokes runs out of choices, his only path is betrayal. The fragile peace is holding. Behind the scenes, the Israelis are competing for dwindling water resources as Jordan and Palestine face drought. Daoud Dajani has the solution to Jordan’s water problems and is bidding against the British for the privatisation of Jordan’s water network. When journalist Paul Stokes befriends Dajani’s sister, Aisha, British intelligence agent Gerald Lynch realises Paul offers access to the man threatening to drain Israel’s water supply and snatch the bid from the British. Blackmailed by Lynch into spying on Dajani, his movements seemingly linked to a series of bombings, Paul is pitched into a terrifying fight for survival that will force him to betray everyone around him. Even the woman he loves.
About the Author
Alexander McNabb has been working in, living in and travelling around the Middle East for over 25 years. Formerly a journalist, editor and magazine publisher, today he spends his time advising companies on their communications strategies, with a particular focus on digital and online communications. Alexander is a frequent conference speaker, chair and moderator, particularly on issues around online and digital communications. He co-hosts a weekly radio show and is a frequent commentator on developments in the technology and online spheres. When he’s not writing books, he’s posting half-thoughts and snippets on his blog, Fake Plastic Souks, which he started in 2007 during the Arab Media Forum. The title refers to the ‘new’ souks of Dubai, so much more convenient and classy than the real ones. Alexander’s first attempt at writing a book was in 2002, when he sat down to write high-tech comedy thriller Space. Although Space was to land on the ‘Editor’s Desk’ at Harper Collins peer review website Authonomy in October 2007, the book was not seen as a commercial proposition by agents, many of whom took the trouble to point out that humour doesn’t sell. Alexander rolled up his sleeves and wrote Olives, a serious work that explores the attitudes, perceptions and conflicts of the Middle East, exposing a European sensibility to the strange and multi-layered world of the Middle East. This was followed by Beirut, a testosterone-soaked spy thriller, which is to be released in November 2012. He is currently working on a third Middle East based novel, Hartmoor. Although the three books are by no means a trilogy, they follow a roughly contiguous timeline and share many of the same characters.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
I do not know Alexander McNabb, but like him I am a Middle East 'veteran' and long-term resident of Dubai. I am also a regular reader of McNabb's entertaining blog and through this have followed his trials and tribulations in completing Olives and getting it published. So I was delighted to be able to obtain my (Kindle) edition and dive in.
Olives is at heart a love story, wrapped in a thriller and set against the backdrop of Palestinian-Israeli conflict in current day Jordan. So it is not surprising that agents and publishers struggled to pigeon-hole it and I do worry (as a marketing man) where it will find its 'target market'. Which is a shame as it is an excellent read and deserves a wide audience.
The main character is Paul Stokes, a journalist for a contract publisher who is sent to work on an in-house magazine for a Ministry in Jordan (McNabb understands contract publishing from his day job and, while it plays only a minor role in the story, writes well about it). He falls in love with a Palestinian colleague, Aisha, who is a member of a powerful business family. Both main characters are very convincingly portrayed - I fell in love with Aisha myself! The story is told in the first person from Stokes' point of view, which presents the challenge of maintaining a consistent 'voice' for the character, but McNabb manages this with aplomb and only the occasional falter (e.g. Stokes is a Middle East neophyte but unhesitatingly identifies a teaboy in a Jordanian factory as Egyptian). I found the secondary characters to be a little less convincing, and the Scandinavian neighbour Lars verges on a stereotype, but this in no way impaired my enjoyment. Stokes is blackmailed into co-operating with a British intelligence officer who is trying to influence the outcome of bidding for a water privatisation project against Aisha's family and so is pulled into a 'web of intrique' (to use a cliche that McNabb himself would avoid like the plague!). Stokes is never quite sure who is telling him the truth and McNabb twists the reader's sympathies one way and then the other right up to the shocking denouement. The Jordanian background is described in rich detail and McNabb clearly knows the country well, although I did feel that he occasionally assumed too much knowledge of Arabic mores for the casual (i.e. not Middle East based) reader. But these are minor quibbles indeed.
All in all, this is a terrific first (published) novel. I read 'Olives' soon after finishing 'Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet' (to which it bears certain similarities - love story, thriller, strange land) and enjoyed it every bit as much. Which is praise indeed.
Olives is at heart a love story, wrapped in a thriller and set against the backdrop of Palestinian-Israeli conflict in current day Jordan. So it is not surprising that agents and publishers struggled to pigeon-hole it and I do worry (as a marketing man) where it will find its 'target market'. Which is a shame as it is an excellent read and deserves a wide audience.
The main character is Paul Stokes, a journalist for a contract publisher who is sent to work on an in-house magazine for a Ministry in Jordan (McNabb understands contract publishing from his day job and, while it plays only a minor role in the story, writes well about it). He falls in love with a Palestinian colleague, Aisha, who is a member of a powerful business family. Both main characters are very convincingly portrayed - I fell in love with Aisha myself! The story is told in the first person from Stokes' point of view, which presents the challenge of maintaining a consistent 'voice' for the character, but McNabb manages this with aplomb and only the occasional falter (e.g. Stokes is a Middle East neophyte but unhesitatingly identifies a teaboy in a Jordanian factory as Egyptian). I found the secondary characters to be a little less convincing, and the Scandinavian neighbour Lars verges on a stereotype, but this in no way impaired my enjoyment. Stokes is blackmailed into co-operating with a British intelligence officer who is trying to influence the outcome of bidding for a water privatisation project against Aisha's family and so is pulled into a 'web of intrique' (to use a cliche that McNabb himself would avoid like the plague!). Stokes is never quite sure who is telling him the truth and McNabb twists the reader's sympathies one way and then the other right up to the shocking denouement. The Jordanian background is described in rich detail and McNabb clearly knows the country well, although I did feel that he occasionally assumed too much knowledge of Arabic mores for the casual (i.e. not Middle East based) reader. But these are minor quibbles indeed.
All in all, this is a terrific first (published) novel. I read 'Olives' soon after finishing 'Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet' (to which it bears certain similarities - love story, thriller, strange land) and enjoyed it every bit as much. Which is praise indeed.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
Like many of the reviewers here, i personally know the author. In my opinion, its harder to impress your immediate circle of friends because of the expectation of quality. Alexander is held in high regard for many other skills and I hoped the book would be to the same standards.
What i enjoyed most was that I clearly got a sense that the author had done his research and knew the region he talked about, without having to wade through long historical references or interrupting the speed of the story. This is pretty difficult in a short novel.
The characters were sufficiently developed enough as well for me to feel empathy and i was pleased to note that there would be more books featuring one of the main actors.
The story has a great believable plot, centred around the issue of water availability in jordan. As its a short novel, i really wouldn't want to go into the details further here as part of the skill of the author is how he weaves different sub plots around this. There is a lovely integration of a blossoming of love which furthers the development of the story and gives the reader another thread to follow with passion. You really do want to find out where its going to end up.
I have to say i was genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed it especially as i read very little fiction compared to other genres. This is the kind of book you want to give to your friends to read so buy two.
What i enjoyed most was that I clearly got a sense that the author had done his research and knew the region he talked about, without having to wade through long historical references or interrupting the speed of the story. This is pretty difficult in a short novel.
The characters were sufficiently developed enough as well for me to feel empathy and i was pleased to note that there would be more books featuring one of the main actors.
The story has a great believable plot, centred around the issue of water availability in jordan. As its a short novel, i really wouldn't want to go into the details further here as part of the skill of the author is how he weaves different sub plots around this. There is a lovely integration of a blossoming of love which furthers the development of the story and gives the reader another thread to follow with passion. You really do want to find out where its going to end up.
I have to say i was genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed it especially as i read very little fiction compared to other genres. This is the kind of book you want to give to your friends to read so buy two.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
This book was chosen by our book group because the author will be attending the Emirates International Festival of Literature in March. We were interested in it because it is set in Jordan and covers aspects of Palestinian/Israeli issues, particularly the potential shortage of water in the area.
Paul Stokes arrives in Jordan to take up a new job - publishing a magazine for a recently formed Jordanian Ministry. He is helped to find his feet by a colleague, Aisha Dajani, a stunningly beautiful young woman to whom he is instantly drawn.
I wasn't sure whether to like Paul, he was a bit of a damp fish at times but he was also under a lot of stress. Caught between the Dajani family and the British Consulate representative, Gerald Lynch, he finds himself at the centre of negotiations for control of water resources that had been taken over by Israeli absorbtion of Jordanian land. The Jordanians needed to retrieve some of this water but this brought with it the alarming potential for causing a water war.
Paul becomes very close to Aisha, whose brother Daoud is leading the Jordanian bid. Their family was originally from Palestine and bore both mental and physical scars from their losses since 1948. I enjoyed this view of a fragmented Palestinian family, mostly living away from their home country, but constantly drawn back there to an old olive farm and elderly relatives.
My first Kindle book and a good read. A thrilleresque style with local flavour. Recommended.
Paul Stokes arrives in Jordan to take up a new job - publishing a magazine for a recently formed Jordanian Ministry. He is helped to find his feet by a colleague, Aisha Dajani, a stunningly beautiful young woman to whom he is instantly drawn.
I wasn't sure whether to like Paul, he was a bit of a damp fish at times but he was also under a lot of stress. Caught between the Dajani family and the British Consulate representative, Gerald Lynch, he finds himself at the centre of negotiations for control of water resources that had been taken over by Israeli absorbtion of Jordanian land. The Jordanians needed to retrieve some of this water but this brought with it the alarming potential for causing a water war.
Paul becomes very close to Aisha, whose brother Daoud is leading the Jordanian bid. Their family was originally from Palestine and bore both mental and physical scars from their losses since 1948. I enjoyed this view of a fragmented Palestinian family, mostly living away from their home country, but constantly drawn back there to an old olive farm and elderly relatives.
My first Kindle book and a good read. A thrilleresque style with local flavour. Recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Outstanding debut, honest and to the point
I met McNabb on a writing web site four years ago, when he was writing comedy books. I had no inkling he would turn into such an excellent writer of proper books. Read more
Published 29 days ago by Richard Pierce
Excellent story
attended a workshop that McNabb presented at the Dubai Literature Festival where he said he'd self-published Olives after being turned down by over 80 agents. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Robert Studholme
very naaiiice indeed!
I bought this book without doubt that it would be a polished well executed piece of work; and I could always be sure of that with Alexander McNabb. Read more
Published 2 months ago by BrianW
Tasting Olives
I make a personal rule that governs which books I will read. I only read travel literature or classics. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Adrian Bridgwater
"Olives" -- the book variety that is
The very mention of olives can make me drool. Black ones, green ones and especially those from Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. They are the best. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Micheline Hazou
A good story and an eye opener
Finally a good story that shows the Middle East from a Western perspective, with no patronizing or typecasting. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Dee Reads
Great read
I'm currently living in Dubai and was intrigued to read this book as Alexander McNabb is someone I follow on my twitter feed and whose blog I occasionally dip into. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Debbie Rogers
A good read that I heartily recommend.
I lived in the Middle East for a few years in my 20s and I had the pleasure of visiting Jordan, where the author has set his book. Read more
Published 4 months ago by colinjbrowne
Olive Press
Yet another independent offering in an ever-expanding sea of self-published novels. Maybe it's the circles I move in, but I'm bombarded daily via Twitter and Facebook and the like... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Simon A Forward
Brilliant first novel
I have been waiting patiently for Alex's first novel to come into published form and the wait was worth it. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Shelo9
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