'Princess' by Jean Sasson. Review on Princess - Jean Sasson

'Princess' came to me in the form of sheer irony,what with this book enunciating feminine power while the person who gifted this to me was a living-breathing male chauvanist.Personal vendetta aside,I'm glad I came across this.Being typically prone to reading mysteries(winter & rainy nights) & romance(summer & lazy days),I would've never even bothered to pick this out from a hoard of other selections.

I'm born & bred in the Middle East & have been really lucky to be living in a country where Muslims & others are allowed to behave as they wish,be it men or women.Infact,covering one's head with the scarf or Hijab is done here at their own free will,females are allowed to pursue & work in any profession they wish & are not tortured if they want to wear jeans & t-shirts instead of the veil.Sadly,Saudi Arabia from the beginning has always stood out & still is alarmingly different compared to the rest of the friendly Arab countries.Jean Sasson,the author is still deeply involved in voicing out the opinions of many oppressed women.'Princess' is first in the series of the 'Princess' trilogy comprising of 'Princess','Princess Sultana's Daughters' & 'Princess Sultana's Circle'.

'Sultana'(fake name) here is a real life princess whose identity has been kept secret by Sasson as much as possible to avoid this lady from getting into further trouble with her family.Princess Sultana Al Sa'ud has been blessed with riches from the day she was born-servants at her every beck & call,palatial mansions,etc.Unfortunately,she happened to be born into the Saudi royal family.Her kind mother had got married at the age of twelve to a man she barely knew.Their union produced eleven children of which one ended up being a boy.Sultana claims that their brother has keenly followed their father's footsteps in treating women inconsiderably,having four wives & countless mistresses(both by only force & dominating power).Ali(the aforementioned brother,also given a fake name) has always tortured all his sisters & has never once got reprimanded for it.Being the bold one amongst all the girls,Sultana always defended herself & her siblings against Ali's wrath only to get scolded upon by her father.Her uncle Faisal was completely different comapred to the rest of the royals though.He fell in love with a woman,hated the veil system & allowed ladies to be educated.He was so crazy about his wife that he never married any other woman.Sultana reveals as to how she wanted to worship her dad,but found herself admiring her uncle instead.Her sister Sara(fake) being beautiful & intelligent was married off to an unrelenting sixty two year old man at the tender age of sixteen.As is later known,the aged man tended to have highly pornographic sexual desires thereby ruining Sara by body & mind.Sultana's mother passes away & ther father marries their eighteen year old cousin.First filled with spite,Sultana however realises that her step-mother's story is not different from Sara's.Finally after gruelling pages,we read about Sulatana's own wedding.However her nuptials are a happy one as her husband turns out to be handsome,free-thinking & highly considerate.............................................not for long though.Suddenly the rebellious Sultana comes to terms that she & her Saudi sisters will always be at the mercy of their fathers,brothers & husbands.The most striking piece is when Sultana requests us readers not to blame her religion or Allah for the travesties they face.She insists that their holy scriptures are fair,but the men in their land have corrupted the message of God.