Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia

by Jean Sasson

Book Overview

A Saudi woman discusses what life is like for women in her country, describing how women are sold into marriage to men five times their age, are treated as their husbands' slaves, and are often murdered for the slightest transgression.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688116752
• ISBN13: 9780688116750
• Release Date: September 1992
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Very Informative

One of the best reads informing other women what it is like to live as a member of the royal family in Saudi. I had heard but truly didn't know the truth of their lives behind walls. This is a really good book and if this side of life interests you, it is a MUST read.

Bloody

I have dried blood. Thats very terrible.

All the feels

When reading this book, you get all the feels. The author really helps you fall in love with the main character as she tells the story of her childhood, friends, family and what is means to be a woman in a world dominated by men to the point in which women are not considered people. I am enticed and look forward to reading all of the sequels.

Love it!!! Me las compre las tres y tambien Mayada!!!

me encantan las memorias o los relatos reales visto desde el punto de vista de alguien que vivio ese momento!!!! Esto es exelente.... Hay que conocer un poco mas otras culturas!!! Y esta me encanta!!! Me dejo sedienta de mas y me compre las otras do de sultana y ahora estoy leyendo Mayada, hija de Irak.. uff fuertisima!~!!!

Excelente

Esta novela basada en la vida real, te lleva a los mas remotos recuerdos de la princesa Sultana, permitiendote recrear cada momento de la historia como si fueras un espectador. Lo recomiendo para todas aquellas personas que les intriga la vida de las mujeres en el Medio Oriente.

The veil is ripped asunder

I think this might be the saddest book I ever read. "Sultana", a Saudi princess from one of the highest-ranked families, smuggled her diaries and her story to author Sasson, who has written a skillful but heart-wrenching tale about the life of women in Saudi Arabia. Anyone who has a mother, a wife or daughters and is also curious about the mores in Saudi Arabia ought to read this book.Sultana is, of course, not the real name of the princess. She and her children would suffer horrible consequences were it publicly acknowledged who she is. And that fact isn't really important for us to know; her story is the story of all too many women in some Islamic countries, and even in non-Islamic countries, for as she points out, Islam in no way dictates the torture, mistreatment, multilation, rape or murder or women as right. In the back of this book is a section presenting the relevant passages of the Q'uran in translation, where women are discussed. In other non-Islamic countries, women are also married to rich old men, burned on pyres to avoid paying out inheritance, and imprisoned in purdah. Yet women risk their lives each time they give birth. Why then shouold women be treated less than animals in any society? Is it the desire to have absolute control over the output of a woman's womb or is it a primal fear of the power women have as the first nourishers, they who can, but for the natural bonds of love, deny the stuff of life to any of us?The traditions in some Islamic countries since the Middle Ages, and maybe before, dictate that women have no human rights. They are executed for being raped (presumed to have seduced the rapist.) They are starved, tormented locked for a lifetime in a windowless room for girlish pranks, stoned for possible adultery, denied education and ignored. They aren't allowed to testify as true witnesses in court--the testimony of a woman has the same validity as hearsay in our legal system. A footprint in sand has more impact. Non-Saudi women have even fewer rights--in fact,none at all. They are bought and sold as slaves.What makes this book more than a recitation of horror stories is the personal history of her own childhood, marriage and motherhood. Sultana opens the book with an anecdote about her brother; he coveted an apple that their cook had given to her. She ate that apple, and like Eve, was richly punished for it. How? You must read this for yourself. Is what happened to Sultana and her friends a case of extremism, only found in, perhaps certain circles in Saudi Arabia? I can only say that I know one Saudi family and one type of treatment of women reported by Sultana also happened with them: the wife was summarily divorced and sent away from her children. And, a friend who worked in Saudi Arabia told me of seeing a black bag hanging on a tree along side the road he took to work. It dripped blood for days. On inquiry, he found out it held the body of a women who had been found in a room in her home with a male cousin. Sh

Overwhelming Truth and Insight

As an American Muslim woman who once lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, I became overwhelmed by Sultana's compelling account. As a Muslim, I appreciated her explicit reminder that the transgressions of the Saudi men depicted in the work did not represent Islam. Rather, their misinterpretation of the Quran and Haddith led them to oppress the women of their country, not their true and accurate following of our religion. As one who has worn the abaaya and the veil, and who has met countless women trapped in polygamy in Saudi Arabia and in the United States, I can relate to her experience. Yet, as I was fortunate to be an American in Saudi Arabia, I often did not have to deal firsthand with the cultural oppression of Saudi men; however, I feel that her plight and those of our Muslim sisters is my own. Although Sultana comes from the wealthiest of Saudi families, she accurately and adequately represents the lives of most Saudi women, regardless of socioeconomic status. Her story is real and true; she did not exaggerate or stretch the truth. This work deservedly holds a position as one of the top 500 books for and about women, and should be read by everyone.

Additional Truths about this life Behind the Veil

I am an unbiased reader, yet one with first-hand knowledge of social customs of Saudi Arabia. I lived for over 8 years in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and worked as a nurse in the King Faisal Spec Hosp and Research Ctr. Anyone with the slightest understanding of the Kingdom and the manner of life for women in that country is fully aware that the stories told in Princess is the sad reality of life for women in that country. The only people who have a hard time believing Jean Sasson are people who have never lived in Saudi or possibly jealous people who simply want to attack a good book. As a nurse, I personally cared for Saudi women at the hospital who had endured horrible acts of cruelty from their Saudi husbands. I can say with certainty that many of the stories told by Jean Sasson are duplicated many times over in the daily lives of women in that country. I took care of a 13year old girl, who was suicidal because she was being forced to marry a very old man in his late 60's. She considered herself bright, and she was, and wanted to be educated and have some choice later in life who she was to marry, but this was her parents decision. They would either give drug therapy or electrical shock in some cases to make the women more compliant! I was the nurse in charge when a Saudi princess was locked away in a private room in the hospital. She had been abducted from the West by her own government and was forced to return to the Kingdom. The look on that poor woman's face when she discovered she had been drugged by her own American doctor and brought back into the country on a private jet, I will never forget! (The American doctor and his wife had accompanied the Saudi woman, and they went shopping daily, returning to the hospital with priceless jewelry that had been their payment for the duplicity. It is not only Saudis that can be unfeeling when it comes to women!) To tell the truth, there were so many unbelievable horror stories, that I personally witnessed in that hospital, that I could write a similar book myself! I must say, that I love the way Jean tells the story. It is wonderfully readable and the stories remain with the reader forever. I recommend the book to all my friends and thus far, to a person, everyone has read the book straight through. If you want the real truth of Saudi Arabia and the lives of the women who live there, then I recommend this book. Signed "A nursing professional who worked for many years at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Reasearch Centre"