Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail (Oprah's Book Club) [Hardcover]

Malika Oufkir (Author), Michele Fitoussi (Author), Ros Schwartz (Technical Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2001

A gripping memoir that reads like a political thriller--the story of Malika Oufkir's turbulent and remarkable life. Born in 1953, Malika Oufkir was the eldest daughter of General Oufkir, the King of Morocco's closest aide. Adopted by the king at the age of five, Malika spent most of her childhood and adolescence in the seclusion of the court harem, one of the most eligible heiresses in the kingdom, surrounded by luxury and extraordinary privilege.

Then, on August 16, 1972, her father was arrested and executed after an attempt to assassinate the king. Malika, her five younger brothers and sisters. and her mother were immediately imprisoned in a desert penal colony. After fifteen years, the last ten of which they spent locked up in solitary cells, the Oufkir children managed to dig a tunnel with their bare hands and make an audacious escape. Recaptured after five days, Malika was finally able to leave Morocco and begin a new life in exile in 1996.

A heartrending account in the face of extreme deprivation and the courage with which one family faced its fate, Stolen Lives is an unforgettable story of one woman's journey to freedom.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Oprah Book Club® Selection, May 2001: At the age of 5, Malika Oufkir, eldest daughter of General Oufkir, was adopted by King Muhammad V of Morocco and sent to live in the palace as part of the royal court. There she led a life of unimaginable privilege and luxury alongside the king's own daughter. King Hassan II ascended the throne following Muhammad V's death, and in 1972 General Oufkir was found guilty of treason after staging a coup against the new regime, and was summarily executed. Immediately afterward, Malika, her mother, and her five siblings were arrested and imprisoned, despite having no prior knowledge of the coup attempt.

They were first held in an abandoned fort, where they ate moderately well and were allowed to keep some of their fine clothing and books. Conditions steadily deteriorated, and the family was eventually transferred to a remote desert prison, where they suffered a decade of solitary confinement, torture, starvation, and the complete absence of sunlight. Oufkir's horrifying descriptions of the conditions are mesmerizing, particularly when contrasted with her earlier life in the royal court, and many graphic images will long haunt readers. Finally, teetering on the edge of madness and aware that they had been left to die, Oufkir and her siblings managed to tunnel out using their bare hands and teaspoons, only to be caught days later. Her account of their final flight to freedom makes for breathtaking reading. Stolen Lives is a remarkable book of unfathomable deprivation and the power of the human will to survive.

From Publishers Weekly

While accounts of the unjust arrest and torture of political prisoners are by now common, we expect such victims to come with a just cause. Here, Oufkir tells of the 20-year imprisonment of her upper-class Moroccan family following a 1972 coup attempt against King Hassan II by her father, a close military aide. After her father's execution, Oufkir, her mother and five siblings were carted off to a series of desert barracks, along with their books, toys and French designer clothes in the family's Vuitton luggage. At their first posting, they complained that they were short on butter and sweets. Over the years, subsequent placements brought isolation cells and inadequate, vermin-infested rations. Finally, starving and suicidal, the innocents realized they had been left to die. They dug a tunnel and escaped. Recapture led to another five years of various forms of imprisonment before the family was finally granted freedom. Oufkir's experience does not fit easily into current perceptions of political prisoners victimized for their beliefs or actions. In fact, she was the adopted daughter of King Muhammad V, Hassan II's father, sent by her parents at age five to be raised in the court with the king's daughter as her companion and equal. Beyond horrifying images such as mice nibbling at a rich girl's face, this erstwhile princess's memoir will fascinate readers with its singular tale of two kindly fathers, political struggles in a strict monarchy and a family's survival of cruel, prolonged deprivation. (Apr.)Forecast: A bestseller in France, where Morocco is always a hot issue, this oddly gripping book should also do well here thanks to Oufkir's appearance soon on 60 Minutes and a five-city tour. Film adaptation is a distinct possibility, especially given the book's publisher.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 293 pages
• Publisher: Miramax Books; First Edition edition (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786868619
• ISBN-13: 978-0786868612
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (262 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #84,734 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > History > Africa > Mali
  • #4 in Books > History > Africa > Morocco

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 100 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Amazing story that deserves a better telling., March 30, 2002

By 

mirope "mirope" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail (Oprah's Book Club) (Hardcover)

"Stolen Lives" needs to be evaluated on two different levels - the moving tale of a family imprisoned under the worst conditions for 20 years and the way this amazing story has been memorialized by Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitoussi. The subject is engrossing and important, but the book itself is not well-written. This accounts for the disparity in ratings that the book has received.

It is fascinating to read about Malika'a unique and frequently heartbreaking life. The eldest daughter of a Morococcan general, she was taken from her family and adopted by the King. Western readers will find the tales of her life in the royal household surprising and enlightening. Not only was the lifestyle outrageously lavish, it was also consisted of customs and traditions that are completely different from our own. Malika was allowed to return to her own family as a young teenager. She only had a few years to get to know her father and enjoy life outside the confines of the palace. Her father before General Oufkir was implicated in a coup attempt against the King and was assassinated. The rest of the family - Malika, her mother, her oldest brother, three young sisters and three year old baby brother were summarily imprisoned. For twenty years they lived in increasingly brutal and inhumane conditions, persecuted by the King for their father's crimes and forgotten by the world. Thanks to their uncommon courage and ingenuity, the family was able to survive and eventually escape. It's not easy to read about many of the horrors and indignities that were heaped upon the Oufkirs, but it's important that the world know about their story.

Unfortunately, the book is not worthy of this amazing story. It was written by Malika with the assistance of Michele Fitoussi. The first problem is that the book does not give sufficient background about either the history of Morrocco or General Oufkir's powerful role as one of the King's chief aides. Those unfamiliar with Moroccan history will frequently find themself at a loss for context. Second, given that this is Malika's first person account, it necessarily is a very one-sided version of history. Not that I doubt her version of events - I just would have preferred a more complete and well-researched book that included not only Malika's story but also those of her siblings. Malika frequently portrays herself as the backbone of the family, the strongest member who kept them all from succumbing to madness. This very likely is true, but it would have a much greater impact coming from someone else. Finally, the writing style is very repetitive and immature. While Michele Fitoussi is very sympathetic to Malika's story and deserves much credit for persuading her to tell her story, I have no doubt that a more objective and skilled writer would have improved the quality of the book immensely. Hopefully a serious scholar will undertake a complete telling of the Oufkir's story. I, for one, will be anxious to read it.

42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, Want More..., June 13, 2001

By 

Yasmin Somji (Thornhill, Ontario) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail (Oprah's Book Club) (Hardcover)

After reading all the previous reviews I don't have much to add to the fact that it is an excellent read. I watched the 60 Minutes interview of Malika Oufkir before I read the book and the name seemed very familiar to me. It took me a while to realize that I had read about General Oufkir's coup attempt in a semi-fictional novel : The Spy Wore Silk by The Countess of Romanones Aline. Since I feel a sense of unfinishedness among some of the reviewers, I would like to recommend the above book for people who would like a better idea of who General Oufkir was and just how big a betrayal of his king his coup attempt was. Of course this in no way justifies the imprisonment of his family. But I do think that the two books should be read together to get a better view of the context in which the incident took place, and an outsider's view of the Morocco of the time. The author of The Spy Wore Silk is an American married to a Spanish Count.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To hell and back, July 17, 2001

By 

heather tyler (sydney, nsw Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail (Oprah's Book Club) (Hardcover)

Now I have some idea of what it is like to go to hell and come back alive. Shattered, but alive. Malika Oufkir's autobiography, co-written with French journalist Michele Fitoussi, is extraordinarily candid for someone who has been in prison most of her life.

She and her family have experienced crushing, soul-suffocating oppression which has left severe, permanent damage on each member. While their lives have improved, to a certain extent they will all stay locked in time.

It is nothing short of a miracle, therefore, that someone who has been so repressed, can find the courage to reveal themselves with such frankness.

Stolen Lives is a truely unique story of the survival of the human spirit, a suspenseful fusion of fairytale, horror and thriller. It was one of those books I couldn't put down.

After I read the book several months ago, I interviewed Malika Oufkir for several stories I was writing about her. She wavers between fragility and toughness, she is both young and old, compassionate and passionate and displays great courage as well as great fear.

Malika has paid an unusually cruel and high price for her freedom of expression.

Before reading the book, it would benefit readers to do some background reading on events in Morocco which led to the incarceration of the Oufkir family. There are various sites on the Internet detailing the 1972 attempted coup d'etat by Malika's father, General Mohammed Oufkir. Also, reading on the structure of Moroccan society would be useful to understand what it was like to live under the iron-fisted rule of a feudal monarchy.