Traitor’s Gate
After Saba Hassouneh, a young Palestinian girl who is traumatized by the murder of her family, takes up with a legendary Bedouin freedom fighter, she learns how to fight for her people and her land and earns the respect—and fear—of many in the pre-World War II Middle East. Eddie Owen is a brilliant, but flawed, petroleum engineer waging his own war against poverty, and trying to protect his family from eviction from their Oklahoma farm. When Eddie’s company begins producing 100-octane aviation gasoline that can potentially revolutionize air warfare, wealthy industrialists and world leaders scramble to get their hands on the fuel. It is in this money-drenched, combustible world, brimming with new hatreds and old, that Saba and Eddie meet, fall in love, and work, with different means and often opposite goals, toward a world in which they can watch the stars together, in peace.
As one who has long been fascinated by Middle East politics (and who studied Arabic in college), I was eager to read Traitor’s Gate when it arrived, and the story did not disappoint. At nearly 600 pages, it requires commitment, but the complex characters and the compelling storyline make it worth the time. I found it refreshing to get to know such a strong Palestinian heroine with a complex and heartrending back story, and enjoyed the balance between Saba’s character and Eddie’s. For readers who are interested in the Middle East, this will be a rewarding read.
