THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2024 75 Bahraini Shia who becomes Collins’ source with the codename SCROOP. We especially care about Almaisa, the mysterious and gifted British Iraqi woman whose exquisite mosaic supplies the story’s title. Collins never tells us her real name but calls her only “Maisa,” after the name of Modigliani’s famous painting of an Algerian woman. Another stock character? Perhaps, but Berry’s nuanced picture of this individual is unforgettable. Anyone who has served in the Persian Gulf states—with their bizarre caste systems and huge wealth disparities— will recognize the accuracy of Berry’s picture. In the UAE, there was an oftrepeated joke: “When I die, I want to be reincarnated as a Western expatriate housewife in Dubai.” The combination of servants, villas, swimming pools, clubs, lavish meals, and mild winters was irresistible. Berry, unlike the above-noted housewife, makes us look at the other, nasty side of life in Bahrain—a place where, in the 1970s, the ruler opened his private beach to Westerners but not to Bahrainis. She writes: “The slums unfurled like a giant moth-eaten quilt as I exited the highway at Al-Maqsha. Qaryah, the villages—a country unto itself, whose backroads had become grossly familiar to me, an unwanted second home. Piles of garbage rose from the streets like dying trees. Layers of houses were crammed into alleys: dingy fast-food restaurants and cold stores pockmarked every corner, the emaciated commerce of poverty.” Anyone who has served in Bahrain, Kuwait, or other Gulf states will recognize Berry’s unadorned portrait of the underside of the splendid hotels and palaces that fill the landscape. Her picture of that life is not flattering. Nor is her picture of American officialdom. But she writes beautifully about what she knows and what she has experienced. The reader can expect a great story full of plot twists and characters the author has transformed from the clichéd to the unforgettable. John Limbert is a retired Foreign Service officer, academic, and author. During a 34-year diplomatic career, he served mostly in the Middle East and Islamic Africa (including two tours in Iraq), was ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, and, in retirement, was brought back to serve as the first deputy assistant secretary of State for Iranian affairs. He was among the last American diplomats to serve in Iran, where he was held hostage from 1979 to 1981. He has authored numerous books and articles on Middle Eastern topics. n Anyone who has served in the Persian Gulf states—with their bizarre caste systems and huge wealth disparities—will recognize the accuracy of Berry’s picture.
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