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 SIS operative Gerald Lynch realises Paul offers access to Dajani - 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.
Reviews of Olives - A Violent Romance
There is love, sensitivity and inner conflict that make this book an emotional read.
Expatwoman.com
McNabb has created a world that is uniquely Arab and foreign at once. He obviously understands the region, its politics and its culture. And that is its greatest strength. It is able to draw in the reader early on, creating a world that is at once familiar and strange.
Joseph Mayton writing in BikyarMasr
McNabb’s attempt to portray a more complicated Middle East is important. Its potential impact on Western audiences shouldn’t be underestimated.
Daoud Kuttab writing in JO Magazine
If you take Tailor of Panama, add a sprinkle of Lawrence of Arabia, introduce rich and memorable characters, a modern concern about water scarcity, and bring up the speed, you will get Olives – A Violent Romance by Alexander McNabb. Reading this book was an absolute delight, with an intriguing ending that still keeps me thinking.
Hanging Out Globally
A hard-hitting novel tackling real-life issues coming out of the Palestine-Israel conflict. Olives: A Violent Romance joins an emerging genre on the conflict which attempts to humanise it, making it accessible to readers from all walks of life.
Middle East Monitor
Magda Abu-Fadil in the Huffington Post
The intensity of Paul and Aisha’s love story is the novel’s defining strength with their intimacy heating up to a feverish pitch as disasters escalate and put them at risk.
The National
I was gripping my iPad near the end as it all came together. Right up to the end I wasn't sure who the "bad guys" are (and, really, both sides have good and bad, which is shown in this novel). I love that it isn't clear who is stalking whom until the very end.
Helen’s Book Blog
