Hope You Are Satisfied

by Tania Malik

Overview

The Sheik is pissed. Along with his wives and children, the Sheik got put on the wrong plane, and ended up waiting hours in the desert on a hot tarmac for a crew that never came. As usual– it’s Riya’s fault. 

Riya works for Discover Arabia, a rinky-dink tour guide company in the far-flung desert outpost of Dubai. It’s 1990, and the city’s iconic skyline, along with its global reputation, remains but a gleam in developers’ eyes. For twenty-five year-old Riya, Dubai is a desert purgatory that spreads out between her family back home in India, and an as-yet-defined future ahead of her. If she belongs to anything, it is to the city’s transient underclass of young people from South Asia, Africa, and Europe who arrive with the ubiquitous goal of earning more than they could at home. 

Will a favor from Dubai’s most notorious fixer get Riya back in everyone’s good graces? Or will the impending possibility of an invasion by Saddam Hussein make Riya’s problems (along with everyone else’s) a moot point? 

Author Tania Malik presents a lovably sarcastic cast of misfits who will undo the “guest worker” stereotype one tequila shot at a time, while around them, international arms dealers, American soldiers, CIA consultants, corrupt bosses, and wayward vacationers all compete for Discover Arabia’s attention, even as their world teeters on the cusp of an explosive global conflict.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781951213695
Publisher:	The Unnamed Press
Publication date:	05/09/2023
Pages:	230
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Tania Malik is the author of the novel Three Bargains that received a Publishers Weekly and Booklist starred review. She was educated in boarding schools in the foothills of the Himalayas and has had a varied career in the travel and non-profit fields. She was raised in India, Africa, and the Middle East and currently lives in San Francisco’s Bay Area. She can be found at @taniamalik on Instagram and www.taniamalik.com.

Editorial Reviews

Set in the '90s as the world teeters on the precipice of Desert Storm, Malik brings her cast of characters skillfully to life, then introduces a smart mousetrap of a plot that keeps the pages turning at breakneck pace. A truly absorbing read!" —Suzanne Rindell, author of The Other Typist, Three Martini Lunch, Eagle & Crane, and The Two Mrs. Carlyles.

“A compelling novel which combines an espionage thriller, adventure story, and workplace satire, featuring a heroine you can't help but root for as she goes for the opportunity of a lifetime. A sharp and original read.” —Kathy Wang, author of Family Trust and Impostor Syndrome

“Exuberant, thrilling, and compassionate to the last page, Malik’s sun-soaked novel is a testament to the power of friendships forged far from home.” —Leigh N. Gallagher, author of Who You Might Be

"Full of hedonism and intrigue, this fast-paced novel is a historical snapshot that proves to be chillingly relevant." —Stephanie Feldman, author of The Angel of Losses and Saturnalia

“Hope You Are Satisfied is packed with international intrigue. Riya navigates that poignantly fleeting time in early adulthood when roots are tenuous and everything you want seems both tantalizingly possible and forever out of reach. I couldn’t put this book down.” —Heather Young, author of The Lost Girls and The Distant Dead

“A beautifully written, suspenseful story filled with wonder that blossoms despite the looming threat of war.” —Gabrielle Korn, author of Everybody (Else) is Perfect and Yours for the Taking

"Malik’s novel tautly occupies the in between. Dubai itself pulls many of the strings, with a dark glamour.... A suspenseful story stowed in the moment before a major historical event." —KIRKUS REVIEW

From the Publisher

2023-03-28
In the months between Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait and the war that might end life as she knows it, a young Indian woman attempts to build a future.

Dubai’s Discover Arabia Tours has been low on bookings since the nearby invasion. Even so, Riya shepherds her few remaining guests from pristine beaches to desert safaris, pointing out the camel caravans without mentioning that their young riders are indentured servants. Riya herself is stuck in the “paradise" she spends her time shilling. At home in India, Riya’s struggling family eagerly awaits each remittance. A visit home would cost Riya her job and her visa, so she stays, working for paychecks she wires away as soon as she earns them, building a life in a country where citizenship is unachievable. As Riya puts it: “Forever was an impossibility here.” When César Rodriguez, a dodgy import/export magnate, selects Riya for a dangerous job, she must decide whether to risk everything for a chance at more. Riya and her colleagues, a pack of young international professionals, dream of faraway futures while George H.W. Bush’s ultimatum ticks closer and closer to war. They inhabit a kind of hyperpresent in their brand new city whose future is as uncertain as their own. In December, when rumor spreads that charcoal might prove useful in the event of chemical warfare, the group manages to scrounge up enough to fuel their beach barbecue. Leaving the war to the epilogue, Malik’s novel tautly occupies the in between. Dubai itself pulls many of the strings, with a dark glamour that outshines the protagonist’s nebulous inner life. Riya’s understanding of and involvement in international affairs prove more interesting than her personal conflicts, which are resolved in a rush. Despite an uneven plot, Malik manages to propel the reader forward while conveying the stagnation of Riya’s circumstances.

A suspenseful story stowed in the moment before a major historical event.

Kirkus Reviews