Set in Kuwait in the time between the two Gulf wars, Small Kingdoms is a rare novel with its sensitive observations into other cultures: embodied by American expats, Kuwaitis (two very different women stand out)and the Indian maids.
Anastasia Hobbet is an extraordinary storyteller. I had the privilege of being in her writer's group and observing this book being crafted chapter by chapter. ( )

A good book, set in Kuwait between the two gulf wars, Lets you see how the people deal with life,

Small Kingdoms
Anastasia Hobbet
Permanent Press
344 pages
1579621910

In 1990 Kuwait was humbled in a matter of a few hours when Saddam Hussein invaded and seized control. Small Kingdoms takes place six years later, the people of this tiny country are on edge with fear of another attack. With a daily sense of foreboding and increased tension the people living their go about their daily lives while the bulldozers of Iraq threaten to roll into their land. These menacing machines conjure up memories of the past, heinous crimes buried but not forgotten.

Hobbet’s storytelling takes shape from different perspectives emanating from the lives of her culturally diverse mosaic of characters. As she introduces each one into the story, their unique voice and close-up view will blend together. Their background and different cultures intersect and through them the reader comes to understand the Middle East and the Kuwaiti society in the global arena. Not in isolation, but at the center stage.

The lives of four women, so alike yet so different, strong, obdurate and struggling to achieve their own goals are paramount to the story. Mufeeda, a married upper class Kuwaiti citizen, Kit, the wife of an American businessman and Hanaan, a recalcitrant single, Arab woman. In a society where servants are expendable, Emmanuella, a cook from India tests the limits of her position in order to save another. Her precarious deeds while working for Mufeeda offer a lesson in the fragility and value of human life.

Hanaan is full of intrigue and surprise, laughter and sorrow. She will go to great lengths to save a sick cat, and when she steals a cat from the owner, the scene is is rip-roaringly funny. In contrast, the chilling reality of her fate as an Arab women who engages in a relationship with a non-Arab is sobering. This dichotomy of emotion will cause you to seesaw between laughter and tears throughout. The lives of the people in Small Kingdoms feel genuine, they matter, and they touch your heart.

Through the perspective Hobbet gained from living in Kuwait for five years she unveils the prejudice, stereotypes, history, culture and beliefs. When you finish reading Small Kingdoms, Kuwait will no longer be an enigma.


© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2011]. ( )

In Small Kingdoms, Anastasia Hobbet delivers a rare glimpse of life in Kuwait, just before the Iraqi invasion. Hobbet presents a cast of characters that range across culture and class, starting with Mufeeda, a Muslim wife in a prominent household, who must defend her Indian maid against the harangues of her mother-in-law. Other characters include an expatriate wife from Oklahoma, an Arabian tutor, and an Indian doctor. Hobbet also explores the abuse of household help in the Middle East - a very real problem - through the character of Santana.

Hobbet writes in an elegant, straightforward style, and her details render the scenes vividly. I could almost smell the lamb and scented rice in the first pages. ( )

This is a brilliantly written novel set in Kuwait between the two Gulf wars. People from varying social and cultural backgrounds are brought together to join in a common cause: to help a young maid servant by the name of Santana escape from a household, where she is repeatedly starved, physically abused, and raped by her employer. In the meantime, tension in Kuwait builds as Saddam Hussein threatens another attack.

Among the characters are Mufeeda, a devout, affluent Muslim woman married to a physician, who finds herself trying to balance her own ancient customs with those of the Western world; Kit, a young, naïve American from rural Oklahoma living in Kuwait with her businessman husband and young family, who attempts to fit in; Theo, an American doctor in love with Hanaan, his beautiful and rebellious Arabic tutor, who is a Palestinian and therefore “an official nobody”; and Emmanuella, a destitute maid from Goa, who sends her meagre earnings home to support her family. It is because of Emmanuella’s secret efforts to help Santana that all the characters come together in an incredible and unlikely act of courage and selflessness.

But as the reader soon learns Santana’s plight is not an isolated one, and there are hundreds of others just like her, often found dead. Mufeeda’s husband sets out to clarify matters: “Many in the Gulf abuse their servants, and the murderers among us are almost always protected by their status … we consider them so far beneath us … it’s as if we killed a rat or a roach.” Thanks to Anastasia Hobbet’s keen eye for detail and observation, she skilfully brings to our attention this relatively unknown form of violence and exploitation. In the meantime, as Saddam begins to make good on his threats, the dangers and dramas only escalate, and all around.

It is obvious Hobbet has a first-hand knowledge of the social and political complexities of the world she writes about; and indeed, she resided there for several years. Her compelling and powerful novel brings to life an extraordinary and trying moment in Kuwaiti history. With her compassion and piercing insight, she draws us, the readers, into the book so much so that we too want to join in and help free Santana. Hobbet is a masterful story-teller at times humorous, and her writing is both fluidly and beautifully structured. A truly stunning and gripping novel not to be missed. ( )