Princess:A True Story of Life Behind The Veil in Saudi Arabia by Jean Sasson. ✔✔✔

Denise loaned this book when I arrived, and since I had so many others on my "Must Read" list, I decided to read this at those times during the day when a book comes in handy as a diversion, so it's taken me a few weeks to complete it. Actually, it would probably be too much to read it continuously, because there are some harrowing moments in this book, so, for me at least, a little space to think about these events and reflect on the freedoms I enjoy in this society was needed.

The book evoked a few memories for me as well of women I knew or came in contact with and how their lives were changed by the attitudes towards women in Muslim countries. Joanne Slaughter- my friend from UWO- the Pakistani fellow she met in Montreal during Expo 67, their daughter Farah, and then moving to Pakistan, after which I never heard from her again. The beautiful young doctor in Iroquois Falls - I don't know which country she was from- who left her husband ( also a doctor) to visit a sister in Montreal who had arrived from their home country, and also was never heard from again.

And from this book, the story of Sameera, who was put into a dark, soundless hidden room at the age of 24 to spend the rest of her life there because she had disobeyed her guardian's rules will stay with me forever. That woman must still be alive, existing like an animal in that padded cell.

I have no idea whether this story is completely and utterly true or not - the events and such do raise the question in your mind, but the absolute truth doesn't really matter: I certainly got the picture. The book was written in 1991, and I've read many others on this subject, like "Reading Lolita in Tehran" and "Infidel", but this was a much more personal story somehow, and not as political as those two were.