Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Daughters of Arabia
Book Written by Jean Sasson
Part of a Trilogy (Princess, Daughters of Arabia, Desert Royal)

As soon as i finished reading Princess, I wanted to read this book. The sequel begins with the story of how Princess Sultana's anonymity gets discovered when her brother (who by the way is one of the villains in her story....yes its beyond sibling rivalry) spots this book on an airport and the stories sounded familiar. But the great part was that the immediate family decides to guard this as a family secret to prevent their own downfall in the royal family. It was a relief to know that she was not punished and her husband of all the people was so supportive.

This book is about the story of her two daughters Maha and Amani. Though Princess Sultana and her husband are raising their daughters in the best possible way and trying to treat them as equal with their brother yet they see the stifled lives of other women around them. The story is about how the daughters reacted to the environment....very different from Princess Sultana's reaction but equally desperate.

The high point for me in this book was the description of their trip to Mecca ( the holiest place for the followers of Islam). It was very interesting to read it from her point of view. This book is much softer as compared to Princess as it talks about the other changes happening in the society. Women are studying, men are becoming more tolerant and how the Gulf war has changed economic and political scenario in the country.

I think it was a good decision to read this book immediately after Princess as it kind of gave me some peace to read that things were improving for better.

1 comment:

rohit said...

Must be an enjoyable read Daughters of Arabia by Jean Sasson. loved the way you wrote it. I find your review very genuine and original, this book is going in by "to read" list.