Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia

with ducks!  
    Some people say that my heightened
sensitivity to needy animals 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, and the caretaker of too
many birds to count.  
    In Saudi Arabia, I worked as Coordinator of
Medical Affairs at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research
Centre.  Most of the hospital’s patient reports crossed my
desk, so 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
helplessness in such a situation is heartrending and nearly
unsolvable.  
    I saw sadness almost every day that I worked
at the hospital, much 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 Saudi women who desperately plotted
for change.  One was a Saudi princess, a woman by the name of
Princess Sultana Al-Saud.  Knowing her country 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 be told.  Most
importantly, she wanted her own life experiences to be the story
that inflamed the world.  
    For years we discussed this opportunity; and
after my book 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 Princess
Sultana’s story.   
    Storytelling is power.  A powerful book
or movie can inform and inflame.  That is why I think is
wonderful that so many books are being written about the plight of
women worldwide.  
    I am proud that my books have shared some
very powerful stories.  After writing Princess Sultana's life
story, I wrote about Mayada Al-Askari in Mayada, Daughter
of Iraq , and later I shared the story of Joanna's great
adventure, a Kurdish woman's escape from Northern
Iraq.  Soon after 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?  
    I hope that you learn about women of the
world, and that you, too, work to ensure that every human
being – male and female – leads a life of dignity. 
  
    Jean Sasson
    ###
    The Princess Trilogy

    These best selling books have become a
classic in their genre, galvanizing human rights activities all
over the world. A favorite for community book clubs, as well as
required reading for many high schools and universities.
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