First serial to Cosmopolitan Literary Guild alternate author tour. An appalling glimpse of the conditions endured by even such privileged women as the attractive, well-born Sultana. In Sasson's telling, Sultana's story is a fast-paced, enthralling drama, rich in detail about the daily lives of the Saudi royals and packed with vivid personal sketches of the ruling clan and sharp opinions about the sexual mores, politics, religion and culture of this still-feudal nation. Jean Sasson grew up in a small town in Americas deep south before moving to the Middle East in 1978 to work at a prestigious royal hospital in Riyadh, Saudi. Yet when, after bearing five children, she could bear no more, he prepared to take another wife Sultana fought this, as she had fought every other injustice and indignity her culture inflicted on her. Sultana, the family's rebel, had the luck to marry a man who valued her spirit and intelligence. But in reality, Sultana has no freedom or control over her own life, no value but as a bearer of sons. One sister, wed to a 62-year-old sexual sadist, attempted suicide. by Jean Sasson (Author) (2,796) Sultana Al-Sa'ud, a Saudi Arabian Princess, has four mansions on three continents, her own private jet, glittering jewels, and designer dresses galore. Her older sister was circumcised before a ``modern'' doctor intervened on behalf of Sultana and her eight other sisters their father treated all 10 as breeding animals, useless until old enough to be married off and to produce sons for their husbands. Her father had four wives and a palace for each of them. The pseudonymous Sultana is a niece of King Faisal.

In this consistently gripping work, the American-born Sasson ( The Rape of Kuwait ) recounts the life story of a Saudi princess she met while living in Saudi Arabia.

Princess book by jean sasson