The Dhow House by Jean McNeil

 

Rebecca Laurelson has been working as a trauma surgeon in a field hospital in east Africa, a wartorn area.  When she becomes exhausted and takes a month's leave, she goes to her aunt Julia's house on the coast of the Indian Ocean.  A bigger contrast could not be imagined.  From a fearful, food and medicine deprived area where terrorists could strike at any moment, Rebecca goes to a house of wealth and parties where anything one desired could be had at a moment's notice.

Rebecca and her mother had never been close so she has never met her aunt Julia and the family.  Regardless, they open their house and welcome her.  Julia is a bit scary with her parties and jewelry and sense of entitlement.  Bill, her uncle, seems affable yet everyone is afraid of him.  Her cousin Lucy doesn't have much time for Rebecca, off with her own friends on a daily round of shopping and fun.  Storm, her other cousin, is a male with his own friends and pursuits such as surfing and fishing.  

Yet the break is good for Rebecca.  She has left the hospital exhausted.  She has secrets of her own and needs time alone to integrate her past experiences.  As time goes on and she is ready to reach out, she forms a relationship with Storm and unfortunately, it turns into an affair.  But worse than that is happening.  The terrorists are moving towards this rich enclave and the upcoming elections may bring more change than the white community is prepared for.  When an attack happens, the secrets everyone are hiding emerge with their fallout.

This is the second book I've read by Jean McNeil.  She describes the most horrifying scenarios matter of factly, only slowing revealing the secrets and horrors underneath a calm exterior.  The characters are murky at first and only when Rebecca returns to the country two years later are all the secrets revealed.  McNeil's writing is descriptive and the reader can picture the events vividly.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.