Sunshine Soup: Nourishing the Global Soul [Paperback]

Maya Winter moves to Dubai with her two young sons when her pilot husband gets a job with a local airline. She is uneasy at first, feeling disconnected from her routine (and career) in the UK and self-conscious about 'her untoned thighs that resembled cold porridge', but she soon settles into the life of an expatriate mother: school runs, shopping in the souks, coffee mornings, 'ladies who lunch', Reiki treatments, a book club. She teaches her Indian housegirl to cook a la Delia Smith and starts a Blog on Cookery and Life in Dubai. Her new best friend is Barb, a Texas oilman's wife, full of good intentions and Bacardi, an ardent Republican who is duly horrified when Obama gets the keys to the White House. Barb has a son in middle school but she's still grieving for her daughter still-born seven years ago.

Thanks to Barb Maya becomes involved in a Good Cause and meets a charismatic widowed Arab who (in one of the book's most vivid chapters) shows her the dunes and wadis beyond the cranes and high-rises of downtown Dubai. Both Maya's and Barb's marriages go through a rocky patch. (This happened to many marriages when I was in the Gulf, but let's face it, it does everywhere.)

This was a delight to read, showing the sunny joys and minor discomforts of life in a forty-degree climate. The author prints 35 pages of her yummy recipes at the end. The emphasis on cooking gives the book pleasing echoes of the blog that become a book that became Nora Ephron's movie JULIE & JULIA. Perhaps Jo Parfitt will be lucky enough to see Meryl Streep in the film of her novel!

[Reviewer is the author of SHAIKH-DOWN, which offers another view of life (and revolution) in the Arab World]

When Maya moves to Dubai with her pilot husband, she is shocked to find the words "Housewife. Not allowed to work" stamped into her visa. Having run a successful deli back in England, Maya struggles to find a sense of purpose in her new home. To make matters worse, her husband seems distracted and distant.

Through Barb, an outgoing American woman whose cheerful demeanor hides a sad secret, Maya is introduced to a circle of expat women who help her to find friendship and meaning in her new life. Maya's marriage weathers the storm and she builds a new and exciting life for herself in Dubai.

This book would appeal to married expat women, or to those who are considering moving abroad--especially if they are following a working partner. Dubai was beautifully described and seemed much more interesting than I'd imagined it to be.

As well as being entertaining, "Sunshine Soup" paints a realistic picture of the highs and lows faced by expat women.

Jo Parfitt is mistress of the pen and of the word. With 27 non-fiction books to her name, including cookbooks, guides for career management, coaching for creative writers, even computer handbooks, she has inspired many budding authors by "sharing what I know to help others grow" and with her `brainwave to bookshelf' tutorials.

Sunshine Soup is her first novel. It is, by her own admission, the book that has scared her the most to write. God! There's no hope for the rest of us mere mortals, then!

The book is most definitely an expat book, though the narrative flows around fictional characters rather than the more usual memoirs. So rumour has it, anyway - it is very hard not to suspect that there is a large piece of Jo in Maya, the main character, with her in-depth knowledge of Dubai, her abiding love of her therapeutic kitchen and her propensity to encourage people around her to flourish.

I started the book knowing nothing of Dubai. The visuals drummed up by Jo's compelling descriptions brought it to life for me, and give a very solid background setting for the very real characters that are splashed across the canvas.

The issues of being an expat wife, trailing spouse, or whatever label is currently fashionable, are very clearly stated. With Maya, it is the wrench of leaving behind a business partnership into which she had poured energy and devotion, and the subsequent realisation that she will not be allowed to work in her new life. The coming to terms with the lack of direction, even in her own home, where she feels guilty about the undertaking of any task to which the housemaid lays prior claim. The loneliness of being a freshly arrived alien, whose kids go off to school to sink or swim without her assistance.

With Barb, it is the self-created trap of the furious filling to the brim of her time, just to avoid her own company and empty moments that would give room for reflection on sad events and on her fulfilling partner-role. Her heavy-handed involvement in and organisation of just about all things available for input makes her the dependable one, the one who is always there, always strong - quite a formidable character, but everyone has secrets, and their own Achilles heel, and she is no exception.

With other characters, Jo delivers further insights into the various and myriad difficulties that come hand-in-hand with the life of the expat wife.

There were two aspects of the book that I especially liked. The first is its ability to encompass the viewpoint of the working spouse, too - Maya's husband, Rich, as the shaker and mover in the expatriation, also has a tale to tell of his own problems in his new environment.

The second is the glimpse we are allowed into a couple of Arab relationships, as their unfolding stories intertwine with the expat narratives.

All in all, a colourful, honest, and sensitive while informative book that I enjoyed thoroughly.

Oh, and by the way - as a bonus, Jo generously shares with us the mouth-watering recipes served up through the narrative. Love it!