Graham cunningly fuses several Arabian countries together to present "Jumar" as a kind of "Everyarabia". It is first described as an "oil rich Gulf state." There are racehorses, plenty of dust, sandstorms, "elderly tribesmen" leading goats on strings, majilis sessions - all remeniscent of the Southern Gulf. References to a "building boomtown" suggest Dubai, as does the term "Jumaran". But a taxi managing to "speed" down "wide, pristine streets" on a mid-morning weekday suggests anything but!

Mentions of large and ancient forts give a whiff of Oman. Alcohol laws - prohibited at Customs but available in hotels - indicate Qatar. A monogamous royal family with an unveiled royal wife visiting charities recalls Jordan. Then, imagine Graham's glee at her readers' bewilderment when Ibn Zachir finally reveals his heritage as "Berber". Surely a masterstroke to cut off a chunk of the Maghreb and sail it bodly into the Arabian Gulf!

"In the whole of our history, our women were never veiled. Berber women do not cover their faces. The harem was a foreign concept as well, imported into Jumar by my great-grandfather, a man whose appetite for your sex is a living legend."

Ibn Zachir is also an Arabian cocktail: blending the heroism of a Salahadin, the stubborn pride of a Saddam, and the guile of a Qaddafi. By contrast, the wan and naive young western woman, Faye Lawson, represents the well-meaning but easily misguided and misled President George W Bush.

Lurking in the background - a more sophisticated, sinister and malevolent force - is the Rumsfeld-Cheney character, "boorish stepfather" Percy Smythe. It is Smythe's blackmail and deception, stemming from avarice and exploitative business ambitions, that has driven such a wedge between East and West, as represented by Ibn Zachir and Faye. Faye is but a pawn in the intricate and self-serving machinations of Smythe, but his eventual downfall is a symbol of hope for all.

Graham rapes the thesaurus to describe Ibn Zachir's golden eyes, which represent the lure of Oriental riches to Smythe and the greedy West. He is variously described as having "molten golden eyes", "smouldering golden eyes", "scorching golden eyes", "burning gold of his eyes", "lustrous golden eyes", "censorious golden eyes", "hawkish golden eyes", "blazing golden eyes", "brilliant golden eyes", "shimmering golden eyes", "searching golden eyes", "glittering golden eyes", "glittering lion-gold eyes", "glittering golden gaze", "stunning golden eyes", "dark golden eyes", "stunning, dark golden eyes" and "brooding, dark golden eyes".

Unsurprisingly, relations are described in terms of war and power. Ibn Zachir "hits on a tiny pulse spot with devastating accuracy"; he is a "lithe, tawny predator". As he stretches out "an imperious hand", Faye goes "into retreat rather than advance." She is alternately shown as being "greedy" for his raw male power, then "surrendering" to it. Echoing the Christian text of "turn the other cheek", Faye even submits to his torture of her weak and vulnerable flesh:

"As he employed greater sensual force on the tender buds, exploring the firm contours of swollen flesh, her teeth gritted and her fingers clenched, tiny cries of response escaping her parted lips."

At the climax of the text, Graham warns that that West will have to bend to accommodate East, as Faye feels:

"his bold shaft stretching her".

While their union is first termed a "destructive force" leaving both parties spent and exhausted, it is from this forceful encounter that the seeds of reconciliation germinate. "Little Prince Asif" arrives as "something of a surprise package" eighteen months later: both East and West doubtless startled that from the heat of their battle, a new future fusing both Orient and Occident is formed.

It is Ibn Zachir who describes their earlier misunderstandings as "a black comedy of errors", and this could indeed be a very apt title for Graham's book.