Author Doreen Cumberford calls her book Life in the Camel Lane: Embrace the Adventure a “learnoire.” It is a combination of Cumberford’s story and the stories of other expats and the lessons they learned living in Saudi Arabia as expat employees or spouses.

Readers considering expat living will learn the four stages of culture shock: arrival, honeymoon, frustration and adjustment. The final stage of acceptance is followed by the adjustments of returning to their home country.

Life in the Camel Lane seeks to acquaint readers with the Saudi culture, lifestyle, and it's deep traditions of hospitality, generosity and tolerance from an insider’s perspective. Cumberford describes Saudi weddings, the sport of falconry and her own feelings about the Saudi law prohibiting women driving (that has since been relaxed.) There are also chapters on the experiences of 9/11 in the terrorists’ home country and the “Terror Years” of internal terror tactics from inside Saudi Arabia. These tactics were designed to drive the expats out of the country and destroy the Saudi government.Readers considering expat living will learn the four stages of culture shock: arrival, honeymoon, frustration and adjustment. The final stage of acceptance is followed by the adjustments of returning to their home country.

With stories and compelling honesty, Cumberford describes her family’s most challenging journey and many of the lessons they learned together.

Written to provide useful insights and inspiration to anyone considering living abroad, Life in the Camel Lane shines the light on building a new identity and home while abroad, and the difficulties of the journey home.

A native of Scotland, Doreen Cumberford worked for the British Government in London and Cameroon in the mid 1970s, then an American corporation in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates immediately after. She has been an entrepreneur, coach, writer and speaker while traveling these last four decades. Doreen has lived in seven countries on four continents, including the Middle East for 18 years. Doreen coaches, speaks and writes about using travel as a tool for transformation, together with the necessary mindset to process international transitions and constant travel with ease and grace.