This is a book that on its face held a lot of promise. Any story in which a mother and her children, as well as faithful family retainers, are unjustly imprisoned in squalid conditions for twenty years for an ostensible crime committed by the familial patriarch would certainly be of interest.
A story of great courage and love and freedom lost. Malika recounts her family's fate with much candor, and eloquent simplicity that captivates you immediately.
This was an incredible story about 9 survivors, a mother and her children (ages 3 to 19 years) and two assistants, imprisoned inhumanely for 20 years in a Moroccon desert jail. They were political prisoners, innocent victims, for a crime they did not commit and which they were not tried for.
This story is incredible; possibly weeks after you have read it, it will still be on your mind. The poignant story of a girl who grows up privileged in a privileged familly and is the adopted daughter of the King, ends up later spending 20 years in a desert jail in horrific conditions, only comparable to those of the Holocaust, with her entire familly.
Malika Oufkir... La jeune protagoniste m'a hante tout au long du roman et m'a profondement marque avec son histoire, sa vie interrompu, et surtout sa vie reprise.
Morocco is one of my favourite countries, which is why I bought this book. It tells of the author's golden childhood in the royal court at Rabat, as the companion to the King's daughter.
