Beyond the Arabian Gulf, the island of Bahrain is a mystery. Most readers would have read about it because of its pearls and oil, but not much more. Having lived here for fifteen years, I have experienced the country, explored its momentous history, and known what had turned it into the epicenter of a conflict that rocked the tiny nation.

Those lessons and knowledge have led to the birth of my book, “Land of Two Seas.” Although a work of fiction, it has been woven around facts. Facts, that in all likelihood, you have never read about.

On 19th October 1940 four air-crafts of the Italian Air Force attack the tiny desert kingdom of Bahrain in the Arabian Gulf. Carried out shortly after it joins World War 2 alongside Germany, Italy’s intended target was the American oil refinery in the British Protectorate. Britain’s Middle East Command in Cairo and its War Office in London are shaken as much by the audacity of the air raid as by the prospect of an enemy collaborator on the island. Perplexing incidences of violence in Aden Protectorate and Southern Arabia point toward Italy’s covert presence in the region. Could it be a grand design of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, who has already declared himself a reincarnation of Caliph Omar, to bring the Middle East under his fold? Radio messages intercepted by Middle East Command could mean only such an eventuality.

In the cloak and dagger game that unfolds in the desert sands of Arabia, the deceptively peaceful island of Bahrain and a princely state in far off India, war-weary Britain comes to rely on the wit and courage of one man- its secret agent Gilgamesh. But will he be able to deliver the region from the evil hands of the scheming enemy?

Read for yourself to find out - Land of Two Seas

