by Malika Oufki

Hello world! Let’s talk about books! I’ll start us off.

This book was lent to me by a friend who know I love Middle Eastern culture. It’s the true story about the incarceration of a noble family after a coup in Morocco in the early 70’s, written by the oldest daughter, Malika Oufkir.

She talks about palace life, the confusion and pain of being a political prisoner for twenty years, and the surreal re-entry into a society that has changed beyond imagination.

She goes into all sorts of detail about the ways they coped and worked around the guards. The very real escape reads like an action movie. It’s fabulous.

And the pictures included in the book are a great touch. Especially because they show up after page 120, when as a reader you have gotten to know the people in the story rather well. There’s something very intimate about looking into their eyes and understanding these aren’t characters, they’re real people who have survived this.

She’s written a follow-up called Freedom, which I definitely want to read.