Johannesburg, Fiona Melrose's second novel is set over the course of a single day, December 6, 2013 – her first, Midwinter, was longlisted for the 2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. In Johannesburg, Gin Brandt, an artist who grew up in South Africa but now lives in New York, has returned home for her mother Neve's 80th birthday – she is throwing her a party, and there is much to be done before the celebrations that evening. All around them, the city buzzes with life, and death. At the nearby Residence, Nelson Mandela's family prepares to announce his passing to the world. Alongside that of the two women, we are admitted entry into the hearts and minds of a rich cast of characters, most notably Neve's housekeeper Mercy; another domestic worker in a nearby house, Dudu; her brother September, a homeless hunchback who sustained serious injury protesting for workers' rights at the mine where he was once employed; and Peter, a labour lawyer, who has been in love with Gin since they were teenagers. He is now eagerly awaiting her return, hopeful for a second chance.
Sounds familiar? It should do since Melrose's publishers are calling it "an ambitious homage to Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway". Ambitious is the right word – not many would be confident enough to take on one of the most famous and finest examples of modernist fiction and Melrose certainly gives it her all. Johannesburg is bursting with nods to the original. These range from the more obvious – structure, plot and the similarities between characters – to the subtle – the sections narrated by Neve's dog Juno (Flush, Woolf's genre-defying biography of the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning's cocker spaniel was published in 1933). Elsewhere, there are similarities in the detail of a certain image or particular choice of word that resonates with Woolf's own, whether from Mrs Dalloway
or elsewhere.
Dalloway's famous essay A Room of One's Own is referenced on more than one occasion. "A studio of her own was what she had always yearned for," admits Gin. "Not a husband." Mercy, meanwhile, desires "her own apartment […] But she had no such room, no such kitchen to call her own and it was this lack she felt most keenly". It is not that these do not ring true. They are just a little too conspicuous to be as satisfying as Melrose's more understated offerings. Gin's desire, for example, to "do something to make it right and set the day back in its hinges", after news of another character's death taints the perfection of her party, echoes with an early line from Mrs Dalloway regarding Woolf's heroine's pre-party planning: "The doors would be taken off their hinges;" thinks Clarissa Dalloway, "Rumpelmayer's men were coming."
Will it delight or distress fans of the original? A little of both, I fear. There is pleasure to be taken in these moments of recognition, but, bar the more obvious differences between the original and its imitation, since Melrose actually stays surprisingly true to Woolf's story, the predictability of the plot becomes a tad tiresome and Melrose's stream of consciousness has a tendency to topple over into hyperbole. What she does excel at though is successfully depicting what reads like a true cross-section of a still fractured and troubled society, especially when it comes to an essential truth seen from two different perspectives. "Commerce was the new coloniser and all else that had come before was diminished and expunged," thinks Gin with a nostalgia born of privilege. For poor, misunderstood September, meanwhile, "This city had, over time, reduced him to mere units of himself." It's a world of inequality and violence, the white people who live behind high walls and electric gates are afraid to walk the streets, although they can buy off the police if they're caught drunk driving, and trigger-happy guards patrol buildings with AK-47s – "The great liberator of Africa, thought September."
Although a little too indebted to Woolf's novel to be truly exciting, nevertheless Melrose takes an ordinary day and ordinary lives and renders them extraordinary.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Nancy 9 (Hassa Beek)
Nancy Ajram
(In2Musica)
Pox that threatens the Middle East's native species
Camelpox
Caused by a virus related to the one that causes human smallpox, camelpox typically causes fever, swelling of lymph nodes and skin lesions in camels aged over three, but the animal usually recovers after a month or so. Younger animals may develop a more acute form that causes internal lesions and diarrhoea, and is often fatal, especially when secondary infections result. It is found across the Middle East as well as in parts of Asia, Africa, Russia and India.
Falconpox
Falconpox can cause a variety of types of lesions, which can affect, for example, the eyelids, feet and the areas above and below the beak. It is a problem among captive falcons and is one of many types of avian pox or avipox diseases that together affect dozens of bird species across the world. Among the other forms are pigeonpox, turkeypox, starlingpox and canarypox. Avipox viruses are spread by mosquitoes and direct bird-to-bird contact.
Houbarapox
Houbarapox is, like falconpox, one of the many forms of avipox diseases. It exists in various forms, with a type that causes skin lesions being least likely to result in death. Other forms cause more severe lesions, including internal lesions, and are more likely to kill the bird, often because secondary infections develop. This summer the CVRL reported an outbreak of pox in houbaras after rains in spring led to an increase in mosquito numbers.
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
South Africa v India schedule
Tests: 1st Test Jan 5-9, Cape Town; 2nd Test Jan 13-17, Centurion; 3rd Test Jan 24-28, Johannesburg
ODIs: 1st ODI Feb 1, Durban; 2nd ODI Feb 4, Centurion; 3rd ODI Feb 7, Cape Town; 4th ODI Feb 10, Johannesburg; 5th ODI Feb 13, Port Elizabeth; 6th ODI Feb 16, Centurion
T20Is: 1st T20I Feb 18, Johannesburg; 2nd T20I Feb 21, Centurion; 3rd T20I Feb 24, Cape Town
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
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A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
MATCH INFO
Chelsea 1 (Hudson-Odoi 90 1')
Manchester City 3 (Gundogan 18', Foden 21', De Bruyne 34')
Man of the match: Ilkay Gundogan (Man City)
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The five pillars of Islam
How to register as a donor
1) Organ donors can register on the Hayat app, run by the Ministry of Health and Prevention
2) There are about 11,000 patients in the country in need of organ transplants
3) People must be over 21. Emiratis and residents can register.
4) The campaign uses the hashtag #donate_hope
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Director: Jon Watts
Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon
Rating:*****
The specs: 2017 Maserati Quattroporte
Price, base / as tested Dh389,000 / Dh559,000
Engine 3.0L twin-turbo V8
Transmission Eight-speed automatic
Power 530hp @ 6,800rpm
Torque 650Nm @ 2,000 rpm
Fuel economy, combined 10.7L / 100km
The BIO:
He became the first Emirati to climb Mount Everest in 2011, from the south section in Nepal
He ascended Mount Everest the next year from the more treacherous north Tibetan side
By 2015, he had completed the Explorers Grand Slam
Last year, he conquered K2, the world’s second-highest mountain located on the Pakistan-Chinese border
He carries dried camel meat, dried dates and a wheat mixture for the final summit push
His new goal is to climb 14 peaks that are more than 8,000 metres above sea level
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Profile of Bitex UAE
Date of launch: November 2018
Founder: Monark Modi
Based: Business Bay, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: Eight employees
Investors: Self-funded to date with $1m of personal savings
