Virgins of Paradise (Paperback)

by Barbara Wood (Author)
Key Phrases: black melaya, white galabeya, square minaret, Barbara Wood, Virgins of Paradise, All Rasheed (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
From the author of The Dreaming comes this multilayered historical saga of two sisters rebelling against Egyptian social tradition.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
As young girls from the upper-class Rasheed family in Cairo, Jasmine and Camelia are carefully schooled in Egyptian ritual by their enigmatic grandmother. As they mature and break away from strict Muslim custom, they are catapulted in unorthodox directions. To the family's horror, Camelia becomes an exotic dancer. At the age of 16, Jasmine is married off to her cousin, who abuses her physically and psychologically. When he divorces her after a rape scandal, Jasmine is banished and forced to leave her children behind. She pursues her dream of becoming a doctor and only returns to Cairo when mysteriously summoned by her grandmother. Author of The Dreaming (Random, 1991) and Green City in the Sun (Fawcett, 1989), Wood has once again written a too-long novel with a large cast of characters. Recommended for fans of Wood and readers who love protracted tales. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/93.
- Mary Ellen Elsbernd, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 486 pages
• Publisher: Authors Choice Press (July 31, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595433332
• ISBN-13: 978-0595433339
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #399,191 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enchanting, July 30, 2001

By	Randy (Beirut, Lebanon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Virgins of Paradise (Paperback)

I have read some of Barbara Wood's books, but Virgins of Paradise is the crown jewel of her writings. The story takes us back to 1945, to Egypt at the close of the Second World War and a powerful family from the highest circles of nobility, the Rasheeds. They are the friends of royalty, rich and influential, and their every move is judged by the gravitas of their status. But under the veil of wealth and power lies a web of secrets even thicker than blood whose disclosure could spell the downfall of the family. As time goes by and tremendous incidents ravage Egypt, winds of war, treachery, dishonor, scandal, and forbidden love descend upon the once peaceful house of the Rasheeds on Virgins of Paradise Street. Flashes of events and voices echo from the past and as if by the hand of fate toss the family from one predicament into another. The patriarch of the Rasheeds, Ali is dead, but his posthumous influence remains strong. While Ibrahim his son is the nominal head of the house, it is Amira, Ali's widow, who is the eminence grise, the "invisible" hand that guides the family and holds its deepest secrets. Amira keeps secrets of her own and towards the end she embarks on a journey to uncover the mystery of her origins, which has been haunting her for decades. Tradition and Muslim law play a big role in the unfolding of the story's events, and many points in the culture are discussed and compared with Western culture in a fascinating way through the voices of the characters themselves. Although the two main characters are supposed to be Yasmina and Camelia, they are only two of the lively characters (like Alice and Nefissa) who all contribute to the colorfulness of this story. What is most touching though is that no matter how far the characters travel to escape their past (California, France, England, Lebanon...), their fates are always tied to that quaint home on Virgins of Paradise Street, the witness to generations of Rasheeds, throbbing with their memories, their mysteries, their fears, and their secrets. Barbara Wood's writing is exuberant and vivid to the point that for days after reading the book, I felt a sense of nostalgia for a home I had never seen in my life. The exotic smells and tastes and colors that make up Cairo seem to waft out of the book's pages. Barbara Wood's Virgins of Paradise is not merely a book to be read but an enchanting experience to be lived and felt.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Provides interesting insight into an Islamic family, February 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Virgins of Paradise (Audio Cassette)

Having lived in the Islamic world for several years, I found this book entertaining but also quite insightful to the culture of family life dominated by men. The author fully explores a core group of characters and uses satellite characters to flesh out the family saga. I never had read anything by Barbara Wood, but after reading this book, I have ordered more of her works. The bottom line: entertaining to read, AND I learned something.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Women in Islam, October 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Virgins of Paradise (Hardcover)

This was one of those absolutely delicious books that I eat up like an exquisite food. Jasmine is an Egyptian woman, banished by her father from his wealthy household when he discovers that Jasmine was raped, and therefore has dishonored the family. This is one of the many injustices encountered by the women characters in this story in a society dominated by men who justify their actions by their religion. Some of the women accept this, but a few struggle to speak out for equality and modernization, often at the risk of their lives.

I finished reading this book two months after the terrorist attack on New York, when there is a lot of talk about fundamentalist Islam. The plot includes the ideas of killing for the sake of God, of fundamentalists striving to return Egypt to its old ways, restricting women's freedoms, and beating them if even an ankle shows.

In spite of this ugliness, there is much romance, passion, sexual longings, and family secrets that weave throughout several generations of the wealthy Rasheed family, as their lives coincide with changing political tides in Egypt, beginning with the monarchy of King Farouk, and passing through succeeding presidencies. There is gentle suspense and intrigue, and characters to love as well as to hate. All this made for a delicious story, yet because of its setting and focus on Islam, I was constantly pulled to think about the reality of it in relationship to current events. It's very enlightening, and though fiction, an important book for understanding the present time.