The year is 1970, a period of identity crisis in the Arab world. Hisham, the young hero of "Adama," is now a university student in the big city, Riyadh. He expands his intellect by day and pursues heady, forbidden pleasures by night, indulging in arak, cigarettes and an illicit affair with his neighbour Sarah, a bold young housewife.
Meanwhile, Hisham's disillusioned childhood friend Adnan abandons his artistic ambitions in favour of a loftier cause, Islamism. The two friends grow apart, ultimately becoming strangers to each other. They come to symbolise the opposite extremes of life in a repressive closed society.
Eventually, Hisham's world becomes untenable as he can no longer reconcile his studious days and licentious nights. This contradictions plunges him into intense turmoil and self-loathing, until his past catches up with him, with surprising consequences . . .
"Adama," the first volume of his best-selling trilogy about his native Saudi Arabia, was published in English by Saqi in 2003. "Shumaisi" is the second volume of the trilogy, which ends with "Karadib."