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It all begins with an ad in the newspaper. When Jean Sasson, a young Southern woman, answers a call to work in the royal hospital in Saudi Arabia, what should have been a two-year stay turns into a life-changing adventure spanning over a decade. Jean is plunged into the hidden lives of the veiled women in Riyadh, where women are locked in luxurious homes and fundamentalist mutawas terrorize the streets. Jean meets women from all walks of life--a feisty bedouin, an educated mother, and a conservative wife of a high-ranking Saudi--all who open a window into Saudi culture and help to reshape Jean's worldviews. What follows is a heartfelt, inspiring memoir about Jean's new-found conviction to fight for women's rights in a country of limited personal freedom.
PRAISE FOR JEAN SASSON'S BOOKS:
“Fascinating...an intimate account of a family life that became steadily more dangerous and bizarre...in forced pursuit of Osama’s jihadist dreams.” --Washington Post
"The startling truth behind veiled lives...frank and vivid" Sunday Express
"Anyone with the slightest interest in human rights will find this book heart-wrenching." --Betty Mahmoody, bestselling author of NOT WITHOUT MY DAUGHTER
"A fascinating narrative...devasting" Robert Harris, Sunday Times
"Absolutely riveting and profoundly sad..." --People
"A chilling story...a vivid account of an air-conditioned nightmare..." --Entertainment Weekly
"Must-reading for anyone interested in human rights." --USA Today
"Shocking...candid...sad, sobering, and compassionate..." --San Francisco Chronicle
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.
Still traveling the world, Jean has made her homebase in Atlanta, Georgia where she is a passionate animal rights and women's rights supporter. You can learn more by visiting her website at http://www.jeansasson.com Views: 349
The horse has been championed throughout history as a war machine, a means of transport, an adjunct to farming, a source of popular entertainment, and, finally, as a true friend and companion. So it's no surprise that writers throughout history have featured the horse prominently in their fiction. Here are 25 stories and 5 poems of equine fiction and literature, from Anna Sewell's Black Beauty to classic tales by Arthur Conan Doyle, Mark Twain, Jonathan Swift, and many others! Included are: Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell The Man from Snowy River, by A. B. Paterson [poem] Chu Chu, by Bret Harte John G., by Katherine Mayo Gulliver's Travels: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms, by Jonathan Swift How the Old Horse Won the Bet, by Oliver Wendell Holmes [poem] A Horse's Tale, by Mark Twain The Talking Horse, by F. Anstey Samuel Cowles and His Horse Royal, by Eugene Field A Horseman in the Sky, by Ambrose Bierce The Dun Horse, by George Bird Grinnell The Enchanted Horse, by Amy... Views: 348
Connor's terrifying vision of the future comes to pass as Abiku breaks through into the real world.Then he smelled it!The familiar rotten odour like long discarded takeaway trays wafted up his nostrils. The stench of disease and decay stung the back of his nose and he froze. Connor didn’t dare to move as he recognised the tell-tale pressure in his head for what it signified. There was no mistaking it; something had come through from the other world. Connor eased his right hand up, still under the covers so as not to alert whatever it was that he was awake. Then he heard the words he had dreaded for the last eighteen months:“I’ve been looking for you, Connor True”. Views: 348
This is a continuation of Maya Angelou's personal story, begun so unforgettably in her bestselling I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. It is full of memorable people and charged with a life-giving quality that marks Maya Angelou's writing. Views: 346
Muslims who explore sources of morality other than Islam are threatened with death, and Muslim women who escape the virgins' cage are branded whores. So asserts Ayaan Hirsi Ali's profound meditation on Islam and the role of women, the rights of the individual, the roots of fanaticism, and Western policies toward Islamic countries and immigrant communities. Hard-hitting, outspoken, and controversial, The Caged Virgin is a call to arms for the emancipation of women from a brutal religious and cultural oppression and from an outdated cult of virginity. It is a defiant call for clear thinking and for an Islamic Enlightenment. But it is also the courageous story of how Hirsi Ali herself fought back against everyone who tried to force her to submit to a traditional Muslim woman's life and how she became a voice of reform.
Born in Somalia and raised Muslim, but outraged by her religion's hostility toward women, Hirsi Ali escaped an arranged marriage to a distant relative and fled to the Netherlands. There, she learned Dutch, worked as an interpreter in abortion clinics and shelters for battered women, earned a college degree, and started a career in politics as a Dutch parliamentarian. In November 2004, the violent murder on an Amsterdam street of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, with whom Hirsi Ali had written a film about women and Islam called Submission, changed her life. Threatened by the same group that slew van Gogh, Hirsi Ali now has round-the-clock protection, but has not allowed these circumstances to compromise her fierce criticism of the treatment of Muslim women, of Islamic governments' attempts to silence any questioning of their traditions, and of Western governments' blind tolerance of practices such as genital mutilation and forced marriages of female minors occurring in their countries.
Hirsi Ali relates her experiences as a Muslim woman so that oppressed Muslim women can take heart and seek their own liberation. Drawing on her love of reason and the Enlightenment philosophers on whose principles democracy was founded, she presents her firsthand knowledge of the Islamic worldview and advises Westerners how best to address the great divide that currently exists between the West and Islamic nations and between Muslim immigrants and their adopted countries.
An international bestseller -- with updated information for American readers and two new essays added for this edition -- The Caged Virgin is a compelling, courageous, eye-opening work. Views: 345
* Today is officially the worst day of my life… *
I woke up five hours late after a reckless one-night stand with the sexiest, cockiest, and most arrogant man I’ve ever met. (And this asshole actually left a note: “I think you were lying to me about being “experienced” last night. You orgasmed three times, and that was before we made it to your bedroom. I also find it hard to believe you “usually wear silk or lingerie.” Your drawers are all full of cotton granny panties--The best man you’ve ever fucked… )
My top two PR clients left me for my number one competitor, my roommate accidentally bleached my best suit, and my favorite coffee shop was shut down for “health concerns.”
Still, none of those things dimmed my excitement for what was supposed to be the best four o’clock signing session of my career. I was on the verge of signing the highest paying client in my company’s history, taking on a so-called “impossible” job that no publicist had been able to handle.
But at four o’clock, there was no athlete, television personality, or celebrity who showed up. Instead, that sexy, arrogant one-night stand stepped into my office with his familiar panty-wetting smirk and introduced himself as my new, *cocky client... * Views: 345
Isabel Allende-the New York Times bestselling author whose books, including Maya's Notebook, Island Beneath the Sea, and Zorro, have sold more than 57 million copies around the world-demonstrates her remarkable literary versatility with this atmospheric, fast-paced mystery involving a brilliant teenage sleuth who must unmask a serial killer in San Francisco
The Jackson women, Indiana and Amanda, have always had each other. Yet, while their bond is strong, mother and daughter are as different as night and day. Indiana, a beautiful holistic healer, is a free-spirited bohemian. Long divorced from Amanda's father, she's reluctant to settle down with either of the men who want her-Alan, the wealthy scion of one of San Francisco's elite families, and Ryan, an enigmatic, scarred former Navy SEAL.
While her mom looks for the good in people, Amanda is fascinated by the dark side of human nature, like her father, the SFPD's Deputy Chief of Homicide. Brilliant and introverted, the MIT-bound high school senior is a natural-born sleuth addicted to crime novels and Ripper, the online mystery game she plays with her beloved grandfather and friends around the world.
When a string of strange murders occurs across the city, Amanda plunges into her own investigation, discovering, before the police do, that the deaths may be connected. But the case becomes all too personal when Indiana suddenly vanishes. Could her mother's disappearance be linked to the serial killer? Now, with her mother's life on the line, the young detective must solve the most complex mystery she's ever faced before it's too late. Views: 345
This is a reprint of the collection of essays originally published in book form in 1910. The first impression the book makes, on re-reading its interesting and at times brilliant criticisms, is the ever changing meaning of the word “modern.” We are sure that if Professor Phelps were issuing such a book to-day, his choice of subjects would differ, both in omission and inclusion, from the list as here given. De Morgan, Bjornson, Sienkiewicz, and Blackmore would probably disappear, and those who could take their places would more than fill the volume. For, to mention only one, the greatest of “modern novelists,” Mrs. Wharton, is not here, although The House of Mirth was published in 1905. Professor Phelps gives sound and discriminating criticism on Hardy, Howells, Mark Twain, Stevenson, Kipling, and Sudermann. He does not, we think, appreciate Mrs. Humphry Ward\'s portrayal of the atmosphere in which she places her characters, but he puts his finger on her weaknesses. He rightly protests against the Continental criticism of English and American novels on account of their reticence, for it is not a question of morality only, it is a question of the proper proportions in which one draws life. An interesting appendix contains his plea for the study of contemporary literature and an account of his experiences when he began to give a course on “The Modern Novel” at Yale about 1896. We remember the surprise we felt at that time, when this course was hailed as a great novelty, for we had taken a course in modern fiction at Pennsylvania with Professor Schelling several years before; but this essay, read now, proves again how fast time flies. Courses in modern literature are given everywhere now, and Professor Phelps can rightly be congratulated on being one of the pioneers in bringing trained academic judgment where it is vitally needed, that is, to the reading public who have to be told constantly what they should or should not read. –Educational Review, Vol. 64 Views: 343
*Journey to an underground world where adventure awaits and heroes are made in this middle grade novel from the bestselling, Pulitzer-nominated author of The Monk of Mokha* and Her Right Foot.
When Gran and his family move to Carousel, he has no idea that the town is built atop a secret. Little does he suspect, as he walks his sister to school or casually eats a banana, that mysterious forces lurk mere inches beneath his feet, tearing up the earth like mini-hurricanes and causing the town to slowly but surely sink.
When Gran's friend, the difficult-to-impress Catalina Catalan, presses a silver handle into a hillside and opens a doorway to underground, he knows that she is extraordinary and brave, and that he will have no choice but to follow wherever she leads. With luck on their side, and some discarded hockey sticks for good measure, Gran and Catalina might just find a way to lift their town--and the known world--out of danger.
In The Lifters, critically acclaimed author Dave Eggers establishes himself as a storyteller who can entertain and inspire readers of any age.
**"This book is a ripper, full of all the good stuff: adventure, mystery, and lots of great jokes." - Mac Barnett, Caldecott Honor-winning author of * Extra Yarn*
**"Full of surprises, magic, and heart." - Rebecca Stead, Newbery Award-winning author of * When You Reach Me*
**"[A] cozy contemporary novel about lifting spirits and rebuilding community through teamwork and imagination." --* Publishers Weekly*
**"A heart-gladdening work of allegorical genius." --* The Guardian*
**"A warm and rewarding read . . .Eggers skillfully handles the trope of the kids who save the town, with plenty of humorous adult cluelessness but an equal measure of compassion." --* The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books*
"Original . . . and always intriguing. . . . Eggers's story moves along briskly thanks to mounting suspense and bite-size chapters." --* Booklist* **
A Junior Library Guild selection Views: 343
The Rivered Earth contains four effervescent libretti written by Vikram Seth to be set to music by Alec Roth - together with an account of the pleasures and pains of working with a composer.Entitled 'Songs in Time of War', 'Shared Ground', 'The Traveller' and 'Seven Elements', they take us all over the world - from Chinese and Indian poetry to the beauty and quietness of the Salisbury house where the poet George Herbert lived and died. Spanning centuries of creativity and humanity, these poems pulse with life, energy and inspired brilliance.They are accompanied by four pieces of calligraphy by Vikram Seth, who also captured the ethereally beautiful photograph of his Salisbury garden for the book cover.Signum Classics has released two CDs of the music written to accompany The Rivered Earth, entitled Shared Ground and Songs in Time of War. Both recordings feature the violinist Philippe Honoré and Birmingham's Ex Cathedra choir.Praise for Vikram Seth'The best... Views: 343
Mary Stuart was condemned for high treason and executed at the age of forty-four. Held captive for twenty years by England's Elizabeth I-Mary Queen of Scots, Queen of France and a claimant to the throne of England was embroiled in the power struggles that shook the foundations of Renaissance Europe from the moment of her birth to her death. With all the rigour of a scientist and the passion of an artist, Zweig has skillfully sketched a period full of political turmoil, as well as the fascinating character of Mary Stuart. Views: 342
What's better than staying up all night? Be careful what you wish for.From the anthology collection CONFESSIONS OF A VELOUR-SHIRTED MAN.A modern fairytale about a talking, giant-killing cat with ambitions. The farmyard animals are eager to imitate his example by learning to speak and throwing off the yolk of servitude. All except for silent Mr Simpkins, the grey cat who is as plump as an overstuffed cushion but not so dumb as he looks... Views: 342
A finger in a wedding cake is only the beginning in this deliciously shocking mystery featuring Flavia de Luce, "the world's greatest adolescent British chemist/busybody/sleuth" (The Seattle Times). Although it is autumn in the small English town of Bishop's Lacey, the chapel is decked with exotic flowers. Yes, Flavia de Luce's sister Ophelia is at last getting hitched, like a mule to a wagon. "A church is a wonderful place for a wedding," muses Flavia, "surrounded as it is by the legions of the dead, whose listening bones bear silent witness to every promise made at the altar." Flavia is not your normal twelve-year-old girl. An expert in the chemical nature of poisons, she has solved many mysteries, which has sharpened her considerable detection skills to the point where she had little choice but to turn professional. So Flavia and dependable Dogger, estate gardener and sounding board extraordinaire, set up shop at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, eager to... Views: 342
Hard on the heels of the return of her mother’s body from the frozen reaches of the Himalayas, Flavia, for her indiscretions, is banished from her home at Buckshaw and shipped across the ocean to Miss Bodycote’s Female Academy in Toronto, her mother’s alma mater, there to be inducted into a mysterious organization known as the Nide.
No sooner does she arrive, however, than a body comes crashing down out of the chimney and into her room, setting off a series of investigations into mysterious disappearances of girls from the school. Views: 341
