The last of the official trilogy. There are still two books that have come out since.
Summary:
Princess Sultana realises that she is powerless with her failings to do more than she has to for the rights of women in Saudi Arabia. As Ramadan comes she deems to do better. With her daughter Maha the two go to the decedent palace of one of their distant cousins nicknamed “Paradise Palace” and together with all the family they decide to experience the Beduin life of their ancestors, with the addition of luxurious modern equipment to help them.
The last one was about the extremes of the Islamic faith to the worst purposes. This one though concentrates in realisation as Sultana falls the deep end in to self loathing. There is great concentration on what can a person do on the earth to do better and that going far in to Paradise or back in time, it doesn’t matter, human right’s are still abused no matter what.
Again, very well written and a quick poignant read.
General Disclaimer:
Pick this book up you want to read about human rights abuses (I don’t want to label then women’s rights, because then we become a separate class by doing so, instead of being considered human from the first) and how things are in Saudi Arabia and how they have been for a long time. Just remember this is not a story every Saudi Arabian woman faces or every Muslim woman for that matter. Sultana is from the highest rank in the country and the book tells of those within the lowest as well as do Sasson’s other books.
If this is not your cup of tea, but want to learn about Muslim cultures then I suggest you take a look at the media, music, the poems and books written by them. All are easy to be found. I’ve only now read this book and plan on reading the others as well. But remember things and experiences change from country to country, culture to culture, family to family!! And mind you that the West is not the Benchmark of Progress (to quote Piku here) by any means.
This is just my general warning against generalisation in general
Thank you for reading!
The Little Corner 