A member of one of the most distinguished and honored families in Iraq, Mayada grew up surrounded by wealth and royalty. But when Saddam Hussein's regime took power, she was thrown into cell 52 in the infamous Baladiyat prison with seventeen other nameless, faceless women from all walks of life. To ease their suffering, these "shadow women" passed each day by sharing their life stories. Now, through Jean Sasson, Mayada is finally able to tell her story-and theirs-to the world.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
When author Sasson (Esther's Child; Princess Sultana's Circle; etc.) was assigned Mayada Al-Askari as a translator on a 1998 trip to Baghdad, she had no idea she would form a lasting friendship with this fluent English-speaker and member of a prominent Iraqi family. When Sasson returned to the United States, the two women wrote letters and telephoned each other weekly until, in 1999, Mayada was arrested by Saddam Hussein's secret police for allegedly printing anti-regime pamphlets in her Baghdad print shop and imprisoned for nearly a month in Iraq's brutal Baladiyat Prison. Sasson's candid, straightforward account of Mayada's time among the 17 "shadow women" crammed into Cell 52 gives readers a glimpse of the cruelty and hardship endured by generations of Iraqis. Mayada stares down this ugliness as soon as she's yanked from her meticulously run shop into the prison's interrogation room: "She saw chairs with bindings, tables stacked high with various instruments of torture.... But the most frightening pieces of... equipment were the various hooks that dangled from the ceiling. When Mayada glanced to the floor beneath those hooks, she saw splashes of fresh blood, which she supposed were left over from the torture sessions she had heard during the night." Sasson's graceful handling of such stomach-turning material, including an overview of Iraq's political and social turmoil, is a tribute to her friend, who escaped to Jordan with her children soon after her release from prison. Although Mayada's story has a happy ending, the unclear fates of her cell mates serve as a painful reminder of how many innocent lives were cut short by Hussein's regime.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Sasson, author of Princess: A True Story of Life behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia (1992), first met Mayada in 1998. A year later, Mayada, granddaughter of a revered Iraqi hero who fought with Lawrence of Arabia, a former journalist, modern businesswoman, and the mother of two children, was arrested and imprisoned on allegations that her business was printing antigovernment flyers. Sasson relates Mayada's imprisonment with 17 "shadow women," similarly falsely accused and imprisoned and subjected to torture and cruelty under the regime of Saddam Hussein. To distract themselves, the women tell each other stories of their lives, and Mayada discloses her high-born, privileged lifestyle even though her family were not members of the leading Baath Party. She recalls her mother's acquaintance with Hussein's wife and their mutual dislike. Mayada also tells of interviews with the cruel and erratic Ali Hassan al-Majid, Hussein's cousin and the man who would become known as Chemical Ali. This is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the cruelties suffered by the Iraqis under Hussein. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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More About the Author
Jean's first book THE RAPE OF KUWAIT, based on her eye witness reporting on the invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi troops, was an immediate bestseller. Shortly thereafter she became a full-time writer. Her next three books, PRINCESS, PRINCESS SULTANA'S DAUGHTERS, and PRINCESS SULTANA'S CIRCLE, became international sensations as they were the first books to bring to the western world the shocking stories about life for women in Saudi Arabia. Jean is also the author of MAYADA, DAUGHTER OF IRAQ, about the prison experiences of an Iraqi journalist praised by Saddam Hussein; LOVE IN A TORN LAND: The True Story of a Freedom Fighter's Escape from Iraqi Vengeance which tells the story of a beautiful Kurdish woman; GROWING UP BIN LADEN: Osama's Wife and Son Take Us into Their Secret World; and FOR THE LOVE OF A SON: One Afghan Woman's Quest for Her Stolen Child. Her work has been featured in People, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The New York Post, The Sunday London Times, The Guardian, CNN, FOX, NBC, and many other news organizations.
A Note from Author Jean Sasson
Why do I care so much about the plight of women of the world? The answer is simple: because I can't help it.
I grew up in the United States, in a tiny town down South. In my daily experience, women enjoyed full freedom to do as they pleased. During those early years, it was beyond my imagining that women might be discriminated against.
But from a young age, I noticed mankind's occasional unthinking mistreatment of other animals. Such cruelty broke my heart, and I took aggressive action to aid animals in need. Mischievous boys who thought it amusing to tie a bag of rocks to a cat's tail soon learned to avoid me. I cared for a number of animals of my own, including some rather eccentric ones, such as a pet chicken named Prissy that I taught to walk on a lead. Another pet chicken, named Ducky, accompanied me like my little shadow and brought me endless joy. I had a number of cats and, when I grew older, I got my first doggie, a black cocker spaniel named, yes, Blackie! Others - Frisky, Doby, and a Peke named Goo Boo - soon followed.
As I grew older, it seemed that all the homeless dogs and cats in my little town "knew" to gather in our yard, sensing that I could not turn a single one away.
An impulse to save needy animals carried on throughout my entire life, and I was willing to pursue eccentric efforts to save a chained or otherwise mistreated animal. After I moved to Saudi Arabia, our villa in a Saudi neighborhood quickly filled with abandoned dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, and even ducks!
Friends who stayed overnight in our home were often confronted with the challenge of sharing their bed with a couple of affectionate cats, of being roused in the morning by songs from caged birds, or of arranging their evening ablutions alongside a surprise in the guest bathroom: a bathtub filled with ducks!
Some people say that my heightened sensitivity is a blessing, while others stamp it a curse. I endorse the "blessing" tag and exult that I've been the joyful "mother" of 31 cats and dogs, the "foster mom" of many others until I could find an appropriate home, as well as the caretaker of too many birds to count. A few years ago a friend from the days of Saudi laughingly confided that my nickname was "The Bird Woman of Riyadh," a title unknown to me during my 12 years of living in the desert kingdom.
In Saudi Arabia, I worked as the Administrative Coordinator of Medical Affairs at The King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre. Most hospital reports crossed my desk prior to being presented to my boss who was the head of the hospital. Therefore, I was privy to the details of many human tragedies. But the reports that haunted me most were the stories of women who had been brutally mistreated. And, more often than not, it seems, their injuries had been inflicted by the very men who were supposed to protect them. Many Saudi men, of course, were wholly kind to the females in their family. But when the occasional man lashed out at a wife or daughter with cruelty or brutality, the women of the family had nowhere to turn for help. The man's word was absolute law and no outside organization would dare interfere. A woman's helplesness in such a situation is heartrending and nearly unsolvable.
I saw sadness almost every day that I worked at the hospital, most of it associated with women's issues. Unfortunately, there was little I could do - for I, too, was a disenfranchised woman, in a country not my own.
But I met several Saudi women who desperately plotted for change. One was a Saudi princess, a woman the world now knows as Princess Sultana Al-Saud. Understanding her culture well, she described that nothing would crack Saudi men's determination to maintain the status quo...nothing, that is, short of worldwide indignation. For this reason, the princess was fierce in her belief that the story of Saudi women must be told. Most importantly, she wanted her own life experiences to be the story that inflamed the world.
For years we discussed this possibility, but after my book THE RAPE OF KUWAIT lent me the clout of a bestseller, we knew the time was right to expose the tragedies that afflict so many women on this earth. By then, we were both mature women who understood that discrimination against women is not limited to Saudi Arabia or to the Middle East, but is a worldwide problem, aggrieving women in Western nations, too. But first we would tell HER story.
Storytelling is powerful. A powerful book or movie can inform and inflame. That is why I think it is wonderful that so many books are now being written about the plight of women worldwide. I support all authors who make this important subject their life's work.
I am proud that PRINCESS was the first book to be written about the life of a Saudi Arabian woman, because Saudi life for females is completely unique and cannot compare with any other Middle Eastern country, or for that matter, any country in the world.
After PRINCESS, I shared other, very powerful stories. After traveling to Iraq in July 1998, I wrote about Mayada Al-Askari in MAYADA, DAUGHTER OF IRAQ. Later I shared the story of Joanna's great adventure, the story of a Kurdish woman's escape from Northern Iraq in the book LOVE IN A TORN LAND. Soon came the compelling story of Osama's wife and son, called: GROWING UP BIN LADEN. My latest account is FOR THE LOVE OF A SON: ONE AFGHAN WOMAN'S QUEST FOR HER STOLEN CHILD, a story that will make you weep and make you laugh. Such exuberance is typical of so many lives, lives laced with good and with bad. And who would deny the importance of any story that details the life of a woman who challenges an unjust system? Such stories are criticized only by those who care nothing about the status of women.
I hope that you learn about women of the world, and that you, too, work to ensure that every human being - male or female - has the right to lead a life of dignity.
Jean Sasson
www.jeansasson.com
A Note from Author Jean Sasson
Why do I care so much about the plight of women of the world? The answer is simple: because I can't help it.
I grew up in the United States, in a tiny town down South. In my daily experience, women enjoyed full freedom to do as they pleased. During those early years, it was beyond my imagining that women might be discriminated against.
But from a young age, I noticed mankind's occasional unthinking mistreatment of other animals. Such cruelty broke my heart, and I took aggressive action to aid animals in need. Mischievous boys who thought it amusing to tie a bag of rocks to a cat's tail soon learned to avoid me. I cared for a number of animals of my own, including some rather eccentric ones, such as a pet chicken named Prissy that I taught to walk on a lead. Another pet chicken, named Ducky, accompanied me like my little shadow and brought me endless joy. I had a number of cats and, when I grew older, I got my first doggie, a black cocker spaniel named, yes, Blackie! Others - Frisky, Doby, and a Peke named Goo Boo - soon followed.
As I grew older, it seemed that all the homeless dogs and cats in my little town "knew" to gather in our yard, sensing that I could not turn a single one away.
An impulse to save needy animals carried on throughout my entire life, and I was willing to pursue eccentric efforts to save a chained or otherwise mistreated animal. After I moved to Saudi Arabia, our villa in a Saudi neighborhood quickly filled with abandoned dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, and even ducks!
Friends who stayed overnight in our home were often confronted with the challenge of sharing their bed with a couple of affectionate cats, of being roused in the morning by songs from caged birds, or of arranging their evening ablutions alongside a surprise in the guest bathroom: a bathtub filled with ducks!
Some people say that my heightened sensitivity is a blessing, while others stamp it a curse. I endorse the "blessing" tag and exult that I've been the joyful "mother" of 31 cats and dogs, the "foster mom" of many others until I could find an appropriate home, as well as the caretaker of too many birds to count. A few years ago a friend from the days of Saudi laughingly confided that my nickname was "The Bird Woman of Riyadh," a title unknown to me during my 12 years of living in the desert kingdom.
In Saudi Arabia, I worked as the Administrative Coordinator of Medical Affairs at The King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre. Most hospital reports crossed my desk prior to being presented to my boss who was the head of the hospital. Therefore, I was privy to the details of many human tragedies. But the reports that haunted me most were the stories of women who had been brutally mistreated. And, more often than not, it seems, their injuries had been inflicted by the very men who were supposed to protect them. Many Saudi men, of course, were wholly kind to the females in their family. But when the occasional man lashed out at a wife or daughter with cruelty or brutality, the women of the family had nowhere to turn for help. The man's word was absolute law and no outside organization would dare interfere. A woman's helplesness in such a situation is heartrending and nearly unsolvable.
I saw sadness almost every day that I worked at the hospital, most of it associated with women's issues. Unfortunately, there was little I could do - for I, too, was a disenfranchised woman, in a country not my own.
But I met several Saudi women who desperately plotted for change. One was a Saudi princess, a woman the world now knows as Princess Sultana Al-Saud. Understanding her culture well, she described that nothing would crack Saudi men's determination to maintain the status quo...nothing, that is, short of worldwide indignation. For this reason, the princess was fierce in her belief that the story of Saudi women must be told. Most importantly, she wanted her own life experiences to be the story that inflamed the world.
For years we discussed this possibility, but after my book THE RAPE OF KUWAIT lent me the clout of a bestseller, we knew the time was right to expose the tragedies that afflict so many women on this earth. By then, we were both mature women who understood that discrimination against women is not limited to Saudi Arabia or to the Middle East, but is a worldwide problem, aggrieving women in Western nations, too. But first we would tell HER story.
Storytelling is powerful. A powerful book or movie can inform and inflame. That is why I think it is wonderful that so many books are now being written about the plight of women worldwide. I support all authors who make this important subject their life's work.
I am proud that PRINCESS was the first book to be written about the life of a Saudi Arabian woman, because Saudi life for females is completely unique and cannot compare with any other Middle Eastern country, or for that matter, any country in the world.
After PRINCESS, I shared other, very powerful stories. After traveling to Iraq in July 1998, I wrote about Mayada Al-Askari in MAYADA, DAUGHTER OF IRAQ. Later I shared the story of Joanna's great adventure, the story of a Kurdish woman's escape from Northern Iraq in the book LOVE IN A TORN LAND. Soon came the compelling story of Osama's wife and son, called: GROWING UP BIN LADEN. My latest account is FOR THE LOVE OF A SON: ONE AFGHAN WOMAN'S QUEST FOR HER STOLEN CHILD, a story that will make you weep and make you laugh. Such exuberance is typical of so many lives, lives laced with good and with bad. And who would deny the importance of any story that details the life of a woman who challenges an unjust system? Such stories are criticized only by those who care nothing about the status of women.
I hope that you learn about women of the world, and that you, too, work to ensure that every human being - male or female - has the right to lead a life of dignity.
Jean Sasson
www.jeansasson.com
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I'm Jean Sasson, the author of this book,
By Jean Sasson (Florida) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mayada, Daughter of Iraq (Hardcover)
I felt the need to respond to Alicia for her September 15th review of my book, MAYADA, DAUGHTER OF IRAQ. This book is not anti-Arab, in fact, it is the exact opposite, simply telling the story of female prisoners, and their consequent friendships, who endure a hell in Saddam's prisons. This story makes readers admire and respect Arab women, as they should.
I'll respond to the questions raised by Alicia although I will make this brief. 1) About the cover: Once the author sells the rights to a book, he/she has little input about the covers or about anything much to do with the book, including publicity. Publishing is a business and publishing houses have large staffs to decide the best way to make their money back on a book. Dutton first had a cover with Mayada on it but when they took the book to market, the big booksellers protested the cover and said they wanted a veiled woman on it. At that time, the cover was changed. This was not the author's decision. 2) ANYONE WHO WRITES A REVIEW SHOULD HAVE READ THE BOOK THEY DISCUSS: Reviewer Alicia could not have even looked through this book, forget reading it. If she had only thumbed through the book, she would have seen the photographs of Mayada and of her family inside the book. Since Mayada came to the United States and toured with me on the book, and appeared on a number of national television and radio shows, there's no doubt in anyone's mind that Mayada exists. Add to that, Mayada's family is well known and highly respected throughout the entire world. Winston Churchill even wrote the obit for Mayada's grandfather, Jafar Al-Askari. Where on earth does the reviewer get the idea that Mayada Al-Askari does not exist? Such a statement should not be made by anyone. 3) I have female friends from all over the Arab world. I have Arab female friends from Palestine, and I have Jewish female friends from Israel. Perhaps I will write a book one day that tells the story of those women. I simply haven't had the time or met the right woman, even though I have been doing research. Everyone who read my book ESTER'S CHILD, commented on the fairness of that book, featuring a Jewish family and a Palestinian family. 4) Alicia should read MAYADA and then do a review without bringing in all sorts of false accusations against me, or against Mayada. It's a great pity when women attack other women for no good reason.. We must band together if we are ever to help women worldwide have the right to live in dignity. I am a great champion of women's issues--including women of every nationality. There's plenty of work to be done in every country--including the United States. Amazon should pull Alicia's review since it is clear this reviewer is doing nothing but venting anger which has nothing to do with me, a champion for women's rights in the Arab world, and in other countries. This reviewer is attacking thew wrong person and the wrong book and is making false implications about Mayada and about the book itself. Jean Sasson
73 of 80 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jean Sasson is a genius,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Mayada, Daughter of Iraq (Hardcover)
I purchased this book as soon as it was published because I have read the Princess books by Jean Sasson and already knew that she was an editorial genius. This book is about the title-character, Mayada. Mayada came from a prominent Iraqi family and she owned and managed a printing shop. Tragically under the harsh rule of Saddam Hussein she was accused of breaking the law and thrown in jail. Mayada's basic human rights were violated while she was in jail. She met several women in her jail cell, the "shadow women" as they are called. The shadow women are all so brave and harrowing. Each shadow woman has her own story of despair; one worse than the next. The fate of the shadow women is unknown, but if you read this book you will find out what happens to Mayada. "Mayada" is among Ms. Sasson's best work. It is thought-provoking, intense and written in great detail. It is my sincere hope that Ms. Sasson will write a follow-up story this.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Journalist's Perspective,
By Evelyn Pelfrey (Clio, AL (USA)) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mayada, Daughter of Iraq (Hardcover)
Like everyone else who keeps up with news reports on what's happening in Iraq, I was bamboozled by the search for weapons of mass destruction, disappointed by the lack of results and second-guessing the choice we Americans made to interfere in the sovereign rights of a member of the United Nations.Then I was lucky enough as a journalist to meet Mayada...after I read Jean Sasson's book about her life. Sasson depicts Mayada in the book as a true gentlewoman who traces her lineage back to remarkable gentlemen and women of the educated elite in the part of the world where civilization first emerged. In person, she proved to be that bright and gentle woman. Mayada, through the book and in person, is an excellent spokesman for the injustices of the just-ousted regime in Iraq, for the justice represented by our unilateral action in Iraq and for the promise of a democratic stronghold in the Middle East. After reading the book, even as a seasoned journalist, I have a different frame of reference when I hear, see or read the sensational reports intimating that our U.S. actions were or are based on eroneous grounds. Mayada - a jounalist herself - calls it "a good thing." Knowing her story now, I agree. Read the book and you'll watch history unfold from the viewpoint of someone who has been there.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
At about 8:45 on the morning of July 19, 1999, Mayada Al-Askari was driving to her office at full speed. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
shadow women, secret police headquarters, shadow woman Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Saddam Hussein, Sati Al-Husri, Ali Hassan, King Faisal, Fadil Al-Barrak, Middle East, Jafar Al-Askari, Jafar Pasha, Mayada Al-Askari, Ottoman Empire, Abu Jabbar, King Ghazi, Mayada Nizar Jafar Mustafa Al-Askari, President Saddam, Salwa Al-Husri, Alwiya Club, Amin Al-Amma, Arab Nationalism, Baghdad Al-Jadida, Beit Meri, Daphne Parish, Gertrude Bell, Ministry of Information, Nouri Al-Said, Hadi Hameed New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
At about 8:45 on the morning of July 19, 1999, Mayada Al-Askari was driving to her office at full speed. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
shadow women, secret police headquarters, shadow woman Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Saddam Hussein, Sati Al-Husri, Ali Hassan, King Faisal, Fadil Al-Barrak, Middle East, Jafar Al-Askari, Jafar Pasha, Mayada Al-Askari, Ottoman Empire, Abu Jabbar, King Ghazi, Mayada Nizar Jafar Mustafa Al-Askari, President Saddam, Salwa Al-Husri, Alwiya Club, Amin Al-Amma, Arab Nationalism, Baghdad Al-Jadida, Beit Meri, Daphne Parish, Gertrude Bell, Ministry of Information, Nouri Al-Said, Hadi Hameed New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 2
books:
1
book
cites this book:
- The Rape of Kuwait: The True Story of Iraqi Atrocities Against a Civilian Population by Jean P. Sasson in Front Matter
- Saudi Arabia (Creation of the Modern Middle East) by Heather Lehr Wagner on page 17
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