A Year Under Sharia Law

Memoir of an American Couple Living and Working in Saudi Arabia

By: Alex Fletcher, Liz Fletcher

Narrated by: Tyler Krzeszewski

Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Three years into a financial crisis that shows no sign of loosening its grip, a young couple make the unpopular decision to teach English in Saudi Arabia. The choice of Saudi Arabia is based primarily on the best salary offer and an all-expenses-paid round-trip flight. Secondarily, it is to satiate a desire to explore a country steeped in mystery and taboo.

Little do they know that the experience will come with a price and change their lives in a profound way, witnessing human rights violations that go unchecked even up to today and an ultra-conservative culture wrestling with tradition and modernity.

A Year Under Sharia Law is written as a travel memoir with vignettes of daily life and interactions with the community at large. It was also written to shine a spotlight on the plight of impoverished ladies who come to Saudi Arabia in the hopes of earning a salary to send money back to their family. They find work as nannies and house maids, primarily. These ladies are often stripped of their rights in a patriarchy that makes them prime targets for unspeakable abuses. Their passports are held by their Saudi employees, and they essentially become prisoners.

This memoir is not only dedicated to them and their plight, but also the tireless and dangerous work done by journalists who are critical of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record. Some have paid the ultimate price.

©2019 Alex Fletcher (P)2020 Alex Fletcher

Take It For What It Is

I found this book mostly entertaining, though keep in mind that it's a memoir and not in any way an authoritative text on Saudi or it's human rights record. Certainly the authors had experiences worth sharing, and their work points to many fundamental differences between American and Saudi values. Their perspectives on life in Saudi are overwhelmingly negative (unsurprisingly) and I was left wanting something a bit more informative. It is useful to hear about firsthand experiences, though there were some mundane details. For example, I could have done without all the explanations of drama between English teachers. Overall it's a short read, and worth it if you want to hear a Westerner's view of daily life in Saudi.