Dukhna Nights is a deeply personal narrative that shares with us a window into the Saudi capital city across the 1960s and 1970s. Al Yousef explores the various areas of Riyadh but is true focus is on neighbourhood which he knew and loved: Dukhna, an ancient area that once lay within the city walls.

The vivid world Al Youssef conjures up brings us an array of colours, scents and emotions from a tantalisingly vanished world, enlivened by anecdotes related with a powerful zest for life and language.