Driving the Saudis

After more than a decade of working in Hollywood, actress Jayne Amelia Larson found herself out of luck, out of work, and out of prospects. Without telling her friends or family, she took a job as a limousine driver, thinking that the work might be a good way to dig out of debt while meeting A-list celebrities and important movie moguls.

When she got hired to drive for the Saudi royal family vacationing in Beverly Hills, Larson thought she?d been handed the golden ticket.To be a good chauffeur means to be a ?fly on the wall,? to never speak unless spoken to, to never ask questions, to allow people to forget that you are there. The nature of the employment?Larson was on call 24 hours a day and 7 days a week?and the fact that she was the only female driver gave her an up close and personal view of one of the most closely guarded monarchies in the world, a culture of great intrigue and contradiction, and of unimaginable wealth.While experiencing a life-changing ?behind the veil? glimpse into Saudi culture, Larson ultimately discovers that we?re all very much the same everywhere?the forces that corrupt us, make us desperate, and make us human are surprisingly universal.