-
Princess Stepping Out Of The Shadows
In the international bestseller, princess: The true story of life behind the veil in Saudi Arabia, princess al-Saud and the acclaimed author Jean Sasson began a remarkable series of books. Now, more than twenty-five years later, this compelling journey continues as we follow the fortunes and the dazzling life of the princess, her friends and her family. But, of course, there is a less glamorous, much darker side to this engaging series and in stepping out of the shadows Jean and the princess focus their attention on how, despite positive news on Civil rights reforms, Saudi women still suffer physical and psychological abuse and have little legal protection due to the archaic guardianship laws of the land. So, although this is a kingdom on the threshold of revolutionary change – change spearheaded by the young Saudi crown prince who is keen to modernize his country – any thoughts of equal rights and the chance to lead an independent life remain little more than dreams for most Saudi women. Whilst the princess acknowledges and welcomes the reforms that are on the horizon, through stories of joy and sorrow, we see how she is determined to continue to fight for equal rights for women in this, her beloved kingdom.
-
Growing Up Bin Laden
Granting extraordinary access to their private world, Osama’s wife and son reveal the frightening transformation of a loving husband into a hardened terrorist. In 1996, Osama chose the 15-year-old Omar to accompany him to his mountain fortress of Tora Bora in Afghanistan, where the risks of hunger and disease soon paled before the dangers of the terrorist camps. Illustrating the incredible stories with pictures from the family album, bestselling author Jean Sasson takes us inside the world that Osama bin Laden never wanted us to see.
-
For The Love Of A Son
From the time she was a little girl, Maryam rebelled against the terrible second-class existence that was her destiny as an Afghan woman. She had witnessed the miserable fate of her grandmother and three aunts, and wished she had been born a boy. As a feisty teenager in Kabul, she was outraged when the Russians invaded her country. After she made a public show of defiance, she had to flee the country for her life. A new life of freedom seemed within her grasp,but her father arranged a traditional marriage to a fellow Afghan, who turned out to be a violent man. Beaten, raped and abused, Maryam found joy in the birth of a baby son. But then her brutal husband stole him away far beyond his mother’s reach. For many long years she searched for her lost son, while civil war and Taliban oppression raged back home in Afghanistan. Set against a landscape littered with tragic tales of horrific suffering, Jean Sasson, author Of Princess, chronicles the story of one resolute but tormented woman determined to achieve freedom and equality with men.
-
Princess
Because she is a woman, she is considered worthless -- a slave to the whims of her male masters. She has watched sisters, cousins and friends sold into marriage as young girls to men five times their age and brutally murdered for the slightest transgression, in accordance with cruel and ancient religious law. Now bestselling author Jean P. Sasson offers a shocking glimpse into a world of opulent splendor and horrific oppression -- and presents the real-life story of a courageous modern Saudi princess... who has risked her very life so that the truth may finally be told.
-
Mayada
Mayada Al-Askari was born into a powerful Iraqi family. When Saddam Hussein seized power, Mayada little imagined the devastation this would wreak upon her life. But soon she found herself alone in Baghdad, a divorced mother of two, earning a meagre living as a printer - until she was arrested in 1999 by the secret police & dragged to the notorious Badayat prison, accused of producing anti-government propaganda. She was thrown in a cell with 17 other 'shadow women'. They came from different backgrounds but all shared the same fate: imprisonment & torture without trial and the threat of execution. To block out the screams of other prisoners, the women told each other their stories. Mayada's tales of her privileged former life were a source of particular fascination, including her own encounters with Saddam himself.
-
Daughters Of Arabia
Millions of readers worldwide were shocked at Princess Sultana´s extraordinarily open and honest story, Princess, the first-hand exposé of women´s lives behind the weil inside the royal family of Saudi Arabia. In Daughters of Arabia, the Princess turns the spotlight on her teenage daughters, Maha and Amani. Surrounded by unbelievable opulence, Sultana´s daughters have grown up taking their luxuries for granted. Yes, stifled by the horrendous restictions imposed on all females, even royals, they have reacted in very different, but equally desperate ways. This is a compelling story, set against the background of a turbulent society pitting authoritarian royal rule against fundamentalist religious demands, external political pressures and the tug of economic hardship in a land overflowing with oil revenues. This is the land that produced Osama Bin Lade. And yet it is a land of beauty, history and religion, home of Islam´s holiest sites. It is in this enviroment of paradox and contrast that Sultana tries to rear her daughter as she seeks to expose injustice. In her courageous quest, Sultana once more strikes a chord amongst all women lucky enough to live their lives in freedom.
-
Desert Royal
In Princess, readers were shocked by Sultana’s revelations about life in Saudi Arabia’s royal family. Royal women live as virtual prisoners, surrounded by unimaginable wealth and luxury, privileged beyond belief, and yet subject to every whim of their husbands, fathers, and even their sons. Daughters of Arabia featured Sultana’s teenage daughters, determined to rebel but in very different ways. And now, in Desert Royal, Sultana’s fight for women’s rights in a repressive, fundamentalist Islamic society, has an extra sense of urgency. The threat of world terrorism, the gathering strength of religious leaders and the discontent of impoverished Saudis are threatening to topple the comfortable world Sultana has known. But an extended family ‘camping’ trip in the desert brings Sultana and her relatives face to face with their nomadic roots, and nourishes her will to carry on the fight for women’s rights in all Muslim countries. This updated edition contains an all-new chapter as well as a letter from Sultana hersel f, encouraging all women to take up the struggle for freedom for their abused sisters throughout the world.
-
Princess
Jean Sasson captures the flavour and reality of life in a country full of extremes and contradictions. Priness "Sultana", a real Saudi princess closely related to the King, lives those contradictions, with priceless jewels, many servants, unlimited funds at her disposal, but no freedom. A prisoner in a gilded cage with no vote, no control, no value but as a mother of sons, she is totally at the mercy of the men in her life… her father, her brother, her husband. For the first time, a royal Saudi woman opens the door to give readers an unvarnished look inside a closed society. "Sultana" lifts the veil on the shocking world of forced marriages, sex slavery, honour killings and other outrages against women, both royal and common.
-
Love In A Torn Land
Bestselling author, Jean Sasson tells the dramatic true story of a young woman caught up in Saddam Hussein's genocide of the Kurdish people of Iraq. One morning Joanna, a young bride living in the Kurdish mountains of Iraq, was surprised to see dead birds drop silently out of the clear sky. They were followed by sinister canisters falling to the ground, bringing fear and death. It was 1987, and Saddam Hussein had ordered his cousin 'Chemical Ali' to bombard Joanna's village, Bergalou, with chemical weapons. Temporarily blinded in the attack, Joanna was rescued by her husband, a Kurdish freedom fighter. After being caught in another bombardment and left for dead in the rubble, they managed to flee over the mountains in a harrowing escape. Now living in the UK and working for British Airways, Joanna has told the story of her eventful life to Jean Sasson, the bestselling chronicler of oppressed women's lives in the Princess trilogy and Mayada.