Mosaic by Soheir Khashoggi

Mosaic
By Soheir Khashoggi
October 1st 2004 (first published 2003) by Forge Books
320 pages
4 on 5!

From GoodReads.com,

Set against the bustling backdrop of New York City and the exotic splendor of Jordan, Mosaic is a story of love and betrayal, of a clash of cultures and traditions---and one woman's struggle to rebuild her life.Like many working mothers, Dina Ahmed has become adept at juggling her family and her work. She's the owner of Mosaic, a thriving floral design business, and has been blessed with success, beauty, and, most important, a happy family.But when she returns home one day to discover that her six-year-old twins have vanished, Dina is forced to admit that her life and her marriage were not as perfect as she'd once believed. After many desperate phone calls---and anxious hours spent piecing the puzzle together---Dina accepts the terrible truth: Her husband, Karim, has taken the twins to his homeland of Jordan to raise the children with his family there.The authorities can do nothing to bring Dina's children back, and even her father's contacts in the U.S. State Department are of little help. Karim's family is wealthy and powerful, and even though Dina is half Arab herself, her options are limited.Distraught, but determined to fight, Dina travels to Jordan to confront her husband and to enact a desperate plan to get her children back---but at what risk?

The blurb above gives you a fairly good idea about the family-saga. This book depicts the problems that are faced by Dina and Karim who live in New York. About the time of their marriage, Karim is more modern and has the modern views we link, but as years pass, his Jordanian values and ideas of family become more and more prominent. Dina on the other hand, even being half Arab herself is born and brought up in US, giving her the culture and attitude that most people admire. She painfully juggles between work and home. Everything looks perfect until one day when she returns home, her 6 r old twins, Karim and the kid' Nanny are missing. Karim has taken the twins home to Jordan, so as to give them more traditional outlook and a "good" way of living. Dina's first-born Jordan, feels it's because of him this has happened, which is partly true. Dina and her 2 close friends try hard to formulate a way to get the twins back! Dina has not divorced Karim which makes it impossible for her to get the twins back, the fact that his family are a powerful politically in Jordan doesn't help her cause wither! She employs "special" people to get her babies back, what special people? What special plan? Does it work? it is for you to find out.

One thing I liked about this book was that the author was not biased on showing just the mothers pain and desperation. What makes Karim take the step that he takes, what are his thoughts...everything is detailed in a beautiful manner. Another good thing about this book is a beautiful peek into Jordanian culture! I know while reading the book, I hated the family, but that doesn't mean that I was not intrigued by their culture, their bonding and how women were generally treated down there.

All in all a delightful read!