Why a Booktrail?
2000s – A married couple of missionaries from rural Ireland are posted to Bahrain. The meeting point of cultures suddenly becomes a hotbed of intrigue
The Meeting Point
What you need to know before your trail
Ruth comes to Bahrain with her husband Euan and baby Anna in order to be missionaries there. They are allowed to guide and help the Christians there but can not preach to Muslims. As Euan gets more and more involved with his work, Ruth is left in the compound with the baby and its then she realises that Euan may be getting himself in involved with something he shouldn’t.
Meanwhile, Ruth soon meets a Bahrain teenager Noor, who has lived in England and so is excited to meet Ruth and her family. Her cousin Farid offers to take her around some of the sights that Bahrain has to offer.
But this meeting place can be dangerous and faith in a new environment can be a strange thing indeed.
Travel Guide
Ireland to Bahrain is quite a change of location for anyone but as missionaries, trying to spread the teachings of Christianity amongst a muslim country, their job was never going to be an easy one.
This country of Bahrain is at first her entrapment and her jail of sorts, but then she starts to explore further afield. Taking trips with Noor’s cousin who acts as a guide. A mix of cultures which develops over time whilst at home, Noor becomes ever more interested in this new English family – an escape from her life in Bahrain. Both looking for an outlet from their present situation.
The setting of Bahrain is fascinating. A meeting point of two cultures and religions where the two main women in the story are both trapped and misunderstood in different ways.
So how does Bahrain come across?
A land of faith and paradoxes – such as the way the people seem just as fixated on american shopping centres as anyone else. A land where two cultures and countries must try to live side by side but where your own faith could cost you dear. When all this is placed alongside Ruth’s flashbacks to her life in Ireland, the contrast is sharper still
The fabled Bahraini ‘Tree of Life
Ruth’s big moment of faith and insight comes when she visits this famous tree. It is a remarkable sight – this one green tree growing alone in the desert.
“living itself is an act of faith…The act of trying, she sometimes thinks, is belief itself…”
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Twitter: @beingvarious
Web: lucycaldwell.com
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