Florence of Arabia
First edition
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| Author | Christopher Buckley |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Satirical novel |
| Publisher | Random House |
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Publication date
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2004 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 253 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 55665550 |
| 813/.54 22 | |
| LC Class | PS3552.U3394 F55 2004 |
Florence of Arabia is a satirical novel written by Christopher Buckley and first published in 2004 by Random House. The novel follows a fictional State Department employee, Florence Farfaletti, as she attempts to bring equal rights to the fictional Middle Eastern nation of "Matar."
The wife of the ambassador of the fictional Middle Eastern nation of Wasabia gets drunk, steals her husband's car and drives out of the compound. When pulled over by police, she desperately phones her friend Florence Farfaletti, the "Deputy to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs," begging for asylum to avoid a harsh punishment. Florence is unable to arrange asylum.
The wife is taken back to Wasabia and beheaded for her crime. In anger over her friend's execution, Florence drafts a proposal to introduce a women's television network in the relatively liberal Matar. The state department rejects the proposal, and reassigns Florence to an obscure posting outside the country. To Florence's surprise, a mysterious government employee, identified only as "Uncle Sam," representing an unknown agency, notifies Florence that her proposal has been accepted and agrees to fund the mission.
Florence arrives in Matar and creates a women's television network that is broadcast into neighboring Wasabia. The network airs shows like "One Thousand and One Mornings," which feature empowered female characters who nettle their oppressors and make fun of men. The programming is effective, eventually causing the women of Matar to stage an uprising.
Florence is thrown in jail, but ultimately is rescued and returns to the United States. Back in the United States, Florence discovers that her operation was not funded by the U.S. government at all, but rather by the Waldorf Group, a private equity firm which wanted to prevent extremism in Wasabia to help secure the flow of profits.
Florence is exasperated to have been working for bankers all along, but glad that her work improved the status of women's rights in Wasabia. An ex-president, who is on the board of the Waldorf Group, tells her, "One way or the other, Florence, we're all working for investment bankers."
The novel is set in the fictional state of Matar, a somewhat liberal Middle Eastern sheikdom, similar to the real world Qatar. The neighboring country Wasabia refers to Saudi Arabia, with Wasabia being a play on Wahhabism, one of the most conservative forms of Islam, which is criticized throughout the book for its treatment of women.
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