Hope You Are Satisfied 🐫

By Tania Malik.

Tania Malik's Hope You Are Satisfied offers a vivid snapshot of 1990s Dubai, capturing a city on the cusp of transformation as it teeters between ambition and uncertainty.

Against the backdrop of a looming Gulf War and the nascent stirrings of Dubai’s now-famous skyline, Malik weaves a tale of personal and collective liminality, deftly blending sharp humour, social commentary, and gripping drama.

At the heart of the book is Riya, a 25-year-old employee at Discover Arabia, a scrappy tour guide company operating in the far-flung desert outpost. For Riya, Dubai is a purgatory — a place halfway between her familial ties in India and a future yet to be defined.

As part of the city’s transient underclass of migrant workers from South Asia, Africa, and Europe, she is caught in a cycle of long days with demanding clients and even longer nights chasing temporary pleasures. Her life is thrown into chaos when an enraged Sheik blames her for a logistical debacle, threatening her precarious position.

In a bid to redeem herself, Riya turns to Dubai’s notorious fixer, diving headfirst into a potentially life-changing opportunity that might be far more perilous than it seems. Alongside her, Malik populates the story with a wonderfully eclectic cast — from arms dealers and corrupt bosses to wayward tourists and CIA consultants — all navigating a city that seems poised for either greatness or collapse.

Malik’s writing excels at portraying the absurdities of expat life in a boomtown-in-waiting, where ambition meets exploitation, and survival often requires more than a touch of recklessness. The sense of place is so rich that Dubai itself becomes a central character, its blistering heat, shifting sands, and transient glamour shaping the fates of those within it.

Blending espionage thriller elements with a coming-of-age arc, Hope You Are Satisfied explores the themes of displacement, ambition, and the restless pursuit of belonging. Malik's witty prose and layered characters ensure that this book is not only poignant but also genuinely entertaining.

With its mix of sharp satire, cultural insight, and suspenseful storytelling, this is a must-read for anyone who loves stories that balance humour and depth.

Thank you so much to Lisa and the team at Verve Books for running this book tour!

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