In this short story, Great Neck NY housewife Jean accompanies her oil exec husband to a city in an unnamed Middle Eastern country in the 1950s, believing that her self-perceived openness to the culture and her association with a local prince makes her superior to the other ex-pat wives. A foolish accident in the desert outside the city leads Jean to an encounter with someone whom readers of Wilson’s novels
Alif the Unseen and
The Bird King will not only recognize, but will probably expect to turn up (at least, I sure did). This person brutally enlightens her about colonialism, racism, and feminism, shaking up Jean’s self-image and potentially offering her a new way forward. Soneela Nankani, who also narrated S.A. Chakraborty’s Daevabad Trilogy, turns in her usual excellent performance, believably evoking Jean’s naivete; the complex mix of kindness, exasperation, and contempt expressed by the prince; and the coolly detached viewpoint of the mysterious being Jean meets.