Where Pigeons Don’t Fly
by Yousef Al-Mohaimeed
Where Pigeons Don’t Fly follows Fahd, a boy growing up in Riyadh, from early childhood to the point where he flees Saudi Arabia to Britain in search of greater personal freedom. Fahd’s childhood is traumatised by his father’s involvement in the armed attack on the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979 and his subsequent premature death. As Fahd grows up, he becomes an artist and art reviewer for a cultural website, which leads him to amorous adventures with several women. But his love life and artistic aspirations constantly slam up against the repressive cultural and religious atmosphere of Saudi Arabia. When Fahd and his girlfriend are detained one day by the so-called Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, he feels he has little choice but to leave.