Like Nowhere Else

Book excerpt

I wound down my window. The mud city stood before me, its skyscrapers facing out to the world. I had projected myself at last into the pages of Paris Match, and even though it seemed as if I had waited an age to get there, it had not taken so very long, after all, to arrive at this place, where too few come.

Shibam did not disappoint. It could not.

Like Nowhere Else

Paperback
by Denyse Woods

In the run-up to the second Gulf War, Irishwoman Vivien Quish arrives in the mystical city of Sana’a, hoping to redeem her ruined dream of being a great traveller. The last thing she needs is to become embroiled in a passionate affair, but she is drawn into an impossible liaison with anthropologist Christian Linklater, in spite of his history with one of her close friends.

In the dense heat of the Yemeni desert, Vivian tries to regain her sense of adventure, while the two great love affairs of her life – with a man and with a country – are challenged to their limits as she battles the conflicting demands of loyalty and love.

Like Nowhere Else is a beguiling story about a woman dismantling her past in order to choose her future.

Published -
2006
  by Penguin
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‘Woods has created this novel with so much passion and intelligence that it transcends ordinary romance.

Psychologies Magazine

‘Woods tells her tale beautifully, weaving it to the melodies of the call to prayer and the rhythm of ancient desert life, bringing the searing sun to the weary reader in a narrative of personal redemption.’

Irish Times

‘A wonderful novel … a book to read slowly and with great pleasure.’

Ireland on Sunday

‘This is an enlightening and engaging book.’

Emigrant Online

‘A wonderful read.’

Bibliofemme