Book review: A Diamond in the Desert

Published on Friday 21 August 2009 17:40

A DIAMOND IN THE DESERT Jo Tatchell Sceptre, £18.99 NATHALIE THOMAS

IMAGINE a city where 430,000 of its citizens each have a net worth of $17 million. That city is not the stuff of Hollywood movies but it exists amid the golden sands of the United Arab Emirates.

Abu Dhabi, a city that barely registered in Western consciousness until a few years ago, is now the wealthiest metropolis on earth. And its ambition doesn't stop there. Over the next five years, almost $354 billion will be spent on construction, tourism and manufacturing alone as the city of the super rich sets its sights on becoming the jewel in the Arab region's – and the world's – crown.

Often unfairly dubbed the "new Dubai", Abu Dhabi is spreading its wings as its sovereign rulers seek to construct a paradise that can be enjoyed by 3.5 million people by 2030. It has particular aspirations when it comes to culture, with its own versions of the Guggenheim and Louvre museums due to open their doors early next decade.

Its influence has already spread far beyond its own ever-expanding boundaries and Abu Dhabians have bought into numerous high-profile British and American institutions.

Over a decade after she left as a young adult, journalist Jo Tatchell returns to Abu Dhabi to discover for herself how the country has changed since her father's job first took her family there in the Seventies. Back then the capital of the UAE, which was only just waking up to the opportunities offered by its rich oil reserves, was still dominated by a traditional, tribal way of life. Her mother nicknamed it "sand on sea" as the family discovered a "dishevelled, dusty place" packed full of souks and seaside fishing villages. Tatchell finds that the souks have been replaced by luxury hotels, air conditioned shopping malls and strangely there's little sign of the golden sand.

Part history, part autobiography and part travel book, A Diamond In The Desert assesses modern Abu Dhabi through the eyes of both locals and foreigners.

Tatchell retains an overflowing fondness for the country of her childhood and tries as best she can to recount even some of the less palatable elements of society in a non-judgemental way. Her dealings with bureaucracy, for example, come across as amusing and idiosyncratic despite the fact that they point to a more sinister reality: freedom of information is still repressed.