DUBAI: When Emirati author Mohammed Al-Otaiba first read about the discovery of an 8,000-year-old pearl on Abu Dhabi’s Marawah Island in 2017, he found himself fascinated by one question: How different were the people who lived thousands of years ago from those living today? That curiosity eventually became the foundation of “The Pearl,” his debut young adult novel, published by Kalimat Group, which blends historical fiction, science fiction and family drama to explore the connections between th