This must be one of the best books I ever read. The writing style was clear, descriptive, made me want to keep reading. The book had traditional buildup to climax and resolution instead of any postmodern experimental style. I liked the conversations and relationships, especially between her and her brother. It had a lot of sadness and loss, but it had hope in it too.

There are people who idealize Islamic society. American born Muslims say it is better because women are (forced to be) modest, and we are wrong here because we dress (by our choice) in revealing clothes sometimes. Green party types also cozy up to Islamic societies, overlooking their glaring oppression of women. I think anyone who glorifies Islam should read this book.

Khashoggi goes past this "mirage" and describes life for a woman in Islamic society. It describes the confinement of the veil, when she is forced prematurely to wear it after being caught dancing. It describes the feelings of women in polygamous marriages, when her father marries another woman and her mother eventually kills herself. It shows how women have no power over their lives, when her best friend is barely adolescent and married to an old man. It describes her father, a chauvinistic, intolerant man who is an example of how men in Islamic society are brought up. It describes sex in this society- she has just met her husband and is immediately expected to have sex with him. It also mentions laws- to have a case for rape, a woman must have several witnesses, but to have a case for adultery, a man must only have suspicion. Of course it illustrates the severity of laws when her best friend is stoned to death for adultery. It shows a glimpse of homosexuality in Arab countries- a taboo underground full of exploitation, but common because of the severe separation of men and women. (I am not against homosexuality- I am against both sexual repression and exploitation.) It also shows the violence that people are exposed to, when she watches the brutal execution of her friend.

The character is a brave, clever woman who finds her way out of this society despite all obstacles. (In America, she meets young people who idealize Islamic countries, but is not at liberty to tell her experience.) This story is from someone who has lived in such a place. Considering the reactions of Islamic fundamentalists to other criticisms, it must have taken courage to write this, but it is a wonderful book and I'm glad she did.

This must be one of the best books I ever read. The writing style was clear, descriptive, made me want to keep reading. The book had traditional buildup to climax and resolution instead of any postmodern experimental style. I liked the conversations and relationships, especially between her and her brother. It had a lot of sadness and loss, but it had hope in it too.
There are people who idealize Islamic society. American born Muslims say it is better because women are (forced to be) modest, and we are wrong here because we dress (by our choice) in revealing clothes sometimes. Green party types also cozy up to Islamic societies, overlooking their glaring oppression of women. I think anyone who glorifies Islam should read this book.
Khashoggi goes past this "mirage" and describes life for a woman in Islamic society. It describes the confinement of the veil, when she is forced prematurely to wear it after being caught dancing. It describes the feelings of women in polygamous marriages, when her father marries another woman and her mother eventually kills herself. It shows how women have no power over their lives, when her best friend is barely adolescent and married to an old man. It describes her father, a chauvinistic, intolerant man who is an example of how men in Islamic society are brought up. It describes sex in this society- she has just met her husband and is immediately expected to have sex with him. It also mentions laws- to have a case for rape, a woman must have several witnesses, but to have a case for adultery, a man must only have suspicion. Of course it illustrates the severity of laws when her best friend is stoned to death for adultery. It shows a glimpse of homosexuality in Arab countries- a taboo underground full of exploitation, but common because of the severe separation of men and women. (I am not against homosexuality- I am against both sexual repression and exploitation.) It also shows the violence that people are exposed to, when she watches the brutal execution of her friend.
The character is a brave, clever woman who finds her way out of this society despite all obstacles. (In America, she meets young people who idealize Islamic countries, but is not at liberty to tell her experience.) This story is from someone who has lived in such a place. Considering the reactions of Islamic fundamentalists to other criticisms, it must have taken courage to write this, but it is a wonderful book and I'm glad she did.

This is the first of Ms Soheir Khashoggi's books, which I have read, and it was superb. Set in the fictitious Arabian country of Al-Remal, it tells the story of a girl, born into wealth and privilege in a prominent Arabian family. She lives in a gilded cage, in a land where growing oil wealth and opulence co-exist with archaic traditions and barbaric misogynistic practices.

The book opens with an introduction to Jenna Sorrel, a renowned Harvard-educated psychologist living in Boston, Massachusetts. She is forcibly taken away by men masquerading as immigration officers onto an aircraft: presumably back to Al-Remal, where her sadistic husband Prince Ali has been searching for her whereabouts for several years.

It is then revealed that in a former life, Jenna was known as Amira Badir, a girl who was sold into marriage to a member of the ruling Al-Rashad family. Despite living a glamorous jet-set lifestyle and being surrounded by lavish wealth, Amira endures increasing brutality from her husband, and is stifled by the oppressive environment imposed upon many Arab women, both rich and poor. Eventually, she flees with her baby to the United States to begin a new life. However, the threat of being found by her influential husband, reaching out for her with "arms a billion dollars long", is never far behind.

I have deducted a star merely due to the inconsistent quality of writing: most of the time, it sparkles like a diamond, but occasionally there are colloquial lapses in the narration, which tarnish its lustre. Personally, I feel that there should be increased awareness of this book, although it may be banned in certain countries. Whilst it has been in circulation for several years, I only stumbled upon it recently on Amazon UK's website. It is an excellent first novel by Ms Khashoggi.

The story is amazing, captivating, well-written and touching. You really get involved with the characters, feel their pains, their joy, their fear and excitement, and all their emotions.
You can enjoy the book but do not believe that all the practices carried out in Al-Remal (according to the book) are true. I, myself, know nothing about Al-Remal. But I know Islam. No father, mother, or any person is allowed to force a girl/woman to marry a man against her will and no man has the right to beat or abuse his wife. Muslim women in most Islamic countries go to school, learn, get jobs, and can accomplish themselves in the fields they choose. I'm not saying that the opposite doesn't happen. All I am saying is that it is generally traditions and ignorance that cause it.
A story is a story. Nothing more, nothing less. This story happens to be an excellent one. But it is a story after all. It is not reality.
The book is worth what you pay for it. I couldn't put it down before I finished it and I promise that the same will happen to you. But if you are interested in the religion itself, do more research. You'll find out that it is VERY different from the picture you get from the book!

Khashoggi dedicates her debut novel to the memories of two women who 'inspired me to write about the special bonds that exist between women in other places and other times.' Yet her story of a woman's flight from an abusive husband and a culture which sanctions brutality in the name of Islam, contains almost no evidence of female support for female victims.

The story opens with a prologue introducing psychologist and successful author of a book on battered women, Jenna Sorrel, a woman living a lie and in mortal fear of exposure. The prologue concludes with the realization of her terror as she is confronted with her real name - Amira Badir -abducted from her apartment, drugged and loaded onto a private jet.

The first chapter jumps back in time to the late 1960s. Amira, a child of privilege and wealth in the desert kingdom of Al-Remal, conspires with a peasant midwife to spirit the child of Amira's best friend, an adulteress, and Amira's brother (who is not exposed) out of the condemned woman's prison cell. This act is perhaps the only instance of women risking themselves for another woman. It does not, of course, save the mother, who is stoned to death the following day. 'To Amira's horror, the women were the fiercest executioners, screaming curses as they threw, then scurrying to grab another stone.'

With subterfuge and money, Amira's brother, Malik, is able to set himself and his child up abroad but Amira understands that, though she may be clothed in the finest fabrics, she will never have the option of choice. Not permitted to go to school, she is educated by a governess, a privilege since most girls receive no education at all.

And when she is caught dancing alone to her father's radio, he orders her into the veil, the abeyya, that all women must wear, even though she is still a child. Her mother pleads for her but when her husband insists she silences her daughter's tears, saying, 'Do you dare dispute your father?' Later her father takes a second, younger, wife. The other women in the house console Amira's mother, then scold her for her continuing depression, then condemn her to isolation.

The lives of the women revolve entirely around their men - even in their homes they are restricted to the 'women's country.' Not that life is without pleasure. Lavish sex-segregated entertainments are occasions for gossip and food and shedding the veil to show off foreign fashions to one another.

Amira's wedding to Ali, a royal prince, occasions lavish entertaining and from the beginning handsome Ali showers her with sumptuous presents of jewels and clothes. But much more wonderful to Amira are their foreign travels and Ali'sencouragement of her intellectual life. Abroad she does not wear the veil and is invited to social occasions which include men. And once she has a son she has more than almost any other woman in Al-Remal. Except for her husband's gambling and drinking, life is good.

But after the birth of her son, her husband seems to avoid her. His occasional sexual interest can only be satisfied by pain. There is, of course, no one she can discuss his increasing brutality with. And when he almost kills her the whole palace conspires to call it an accident - caused by her own willful disobedience. Escape seems impossible, death inevitable.

Kashoggi is not a scintillating writer but the drama and glamor of her story carries the reader along. Besides the plight of her heroine, the author threads several subplots and themes through the narrative - her brother's lifelong feud with Ali, and the secrets of his life with his daughter, Amira's involvement with battered women in America and her difficulties as a single mother, the loneliness of isolation from family.

And the setting is wonderfully exotic with a fully realized portrayal of the lives of the fabulously rich, spoiled and decadent oil royalty juxtaposed to the stifling luxury of their women behind their veils.

I read the book and loved it, the writing is great and I couldnt leave the book aside at all.
However, I wish if the writer didnt exagerate in her writings about the life behind the viel. I am an arab, muslim woman and I insist that life overhere is not as bad as what was weitten. If people are looking to see how arab women are living, please come and check it out. Not all arab countries are like "AL-RIMAL"!!
I know that when people write books, the need to make it intresting so people would read them, but the real life is not like that at all :)

I just completed this book. It is THE best book i have read yet. I am actually in tears now. It was so moving, so real. i felt every laugh and every tear. By simply turning the pages i was there in Al-Remal, under a veil, being sold into marriage and leaving the country of my origin behind. I am almost afriad to pick up another book out of fear that it will not be as good as this one or maybe out of fear that it will be as good as this one, so good that i am once again dragged along an amazing yet dreadful emotional rollercoaster. I am only 16 yet i appreciate the extraordinary work that mrs. khashoggi has created and i would like to thank her from the bottom of my heart. please continue your soul touching work.