22 reviews
Sales Rank: 46703

Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.1

ISBN: 0553816403
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9780553816402
ASIN: 0553816403

Publication Date: October 1, 2004
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours

Also Available In:

•	Paperback - Mayada: Daughter of Iraq
•	Paperback - Mayada, Daughter of Iraq: One Woman's Survival Under Saddam Hussein
•	Hardcover - Mayada, Daughter of Iraq
•	Hardcover - Mayada, Daughter of Iraq: One Woman's Survival Under Saddam Hussein

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Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Very Interesting July 20, 2006
M. Mukhtar (UK, Manchester)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful

I found this book very interesting to read. Especially the episodes in the prison regarding the reasons' why Iraqi people were taken into prison.
Mayada life and aspects into the introduction of her family were excellent. I feel one needs to learn about the aspects and privelages a person has and how they deal with things their own way. The insight into the Sadam Hussian political system was interesting and very sad at times. This is just a small chapter in what went on in Iraq under sadam. It will be interesting to see how other people and families suffered in Iraq.
I found this book to be a smooth read. This was one of those hard to eplain books-that have a meaning that goes beyond certain adgenda's and political cruelty when playing games becomes normal for the people that give the pain. For the receiver it becomes the pain of leaving children, parents, siblings behind and getting roped into a political system that never seems to end.

5 out of 5 stars

Political and Sensationalism at Best !!! April 14, 2006
Mr. V. J. Gatenby (United Kingdom)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Jean Sasson has produced a book which is very graphic and quite disturbing in parts, as to the life of those under the regime of Saddam Hussain. Mayada has continuity of circumstances and events with no holds barred. It conveys a sense of the ultimate macabre and evil that any human being can not even begin to understand. This is the first reading of a particular woman's life in either Iraq or Afghanistan, in being interested in the particular culture and lifestyle with regard to the teachings of the Q'uran. There is, as this book (Mayada),conveys, something sadly amiss, in the way human beings are treated and particularly women, being second class citizens, under those that see fit to treat their citizens as such in the name of Allah. Mayada is a compelling read and certainly puts a different light on the subject of those being holier than thou from the teachings of the Q'uran. Well worth reading, if only as a matter of interest or part of studies in humanity.

5 out of 5 stars

Fabulous October 30, 2003
Jackie Hagler (Suffolk, UK)
16 out of 22 found this review helpful

Just this week I heard the author and the subject of her book (Mayada) on a radio show in the UK and was fascinated to hear that Sasson has a new book out. I rushed out to get the book and was horrified to see that the bookshop only had 2 copies left so I bought them both. I had to wait to cook and prepare my son's dinner before I could settle in for a good read and I sat in one spot until I finished the story. I never believed Sasson could surpass her Princess books but she hit the mark with this one. It's the story of a priviledged Iraqi (her family was tops) who ends in a torture chamber in Saddam's prisons. I am shivering with despair at the thought of what Mayada's cellmates endured, and hungry to know what became of them after Mayada was released. This book has changed my mind about our British troops being in Iraq. I have an nephew there and have been angry at that fact but now feel pride that his duties as a soldier are keeping Iraqis free from Saddam's cruel grip. I don't like what is happening there now, but feel certain we are doing something good. If you have an opinion on the military situation in Iraq, read this book and open your mind to the idea that sometimes we have to stand up and perform unpleasant duties for the good of mankind.

5 out of 5 stars

Mindblowing January 10, 2004
8 out of 11 found this review helpful

This book broke my heart and blew my mind.
It also made sense of what my family and I lived through for 25 years in Iraq from 1964 to 1988 better than any other book I have read and , believe me, I have read them all!
We too were members of Alwiyah Club and knew Salwa, God bless her soul. I believe that I worked briefly with Mayada as a journalist when a sub-editor for the English Language magazine Iraq Today.

Every word rings true.

One Friday we enjoyed a family and friends picnic in the country on the banks of the Tigris. By the following Friday one of our friends was dead, imprisoned and executed without reason.
We always used to say that everyone we knew had either been in prison, was currently in prison or would soon be in prison and this book proves it. It tells you what it was really like living in a crazy world of repression and constant fear.
We tried hard to protect our children from it and at times they blame me for uprooting them ( like Ali, without allowing them to say goodbye to their friends). I will make sure that they read this book and tell them this is why I did what I did.
We were shocked to read about the suffering of Dr Showkeit from whom we bought land to build our first home. He was a true patriot and served his country like no other. His grandson was a close friend of my son but as is the case with so many people, we have lost touch as a result of the diaspora of the Iraqis which has so blighted that ancient land of talented and cultured people.

5 out of 5 stars UNPUTDOWNABLE!! February 27, 2004
13 out of 19 found this review helpful

What can I say? another brilliant book by Sasson, who should be congratulated for her excellent work. The book is a must for anybody and everybody. The story is of an innocent woman by the name of Mayada who is imprisoned for a week. Mayada, an elite in Iraqi society born into a priveleged life some could only dream of, was shown the true colours of Saddam and his regime whilst suffering inside one of his secret torture jails, and the plight of 20 other innocent women who Mayada shared her cell with. A thoroughly good book, interesting, reporting not only the bad but also the good times in Iraq, and details of Saddam Hussein. I only hope that such a book will be written about the continuing injusticies against the Sikhs in India. Maybe someday the world will know that the Iraqi's are not the only country and people who have been subjected to such injustices.