Is he dead? Medina, Saudi Arabia. A young man, Malek, has been brutally attacked for being of the 'wrong' race. Malek's lover, Leen, waits by his bedside and reflects on their relationship and her life as an unmarried, childless woman. All around her are voices of judgment and concern; in the twenty-first century it is still unforgivable, and dangerous, for a Saudi woman to enter into a relationship with a black man. In the distance US planes hover over Iraq, primed to embark on yet another senseless conflict. Malek's attacker was Leen's brother. Flinging wide a window onto the second holiest Islamic city a city in which people observe daily prayers and preach equality and justice Days of Ignorance is a novel about honour, hypocrisy, war and fear. And, glimmering beyond, beneath and behind it all, love.