Princess

By: Abeeha Shahid

Author Jean P. Sasson is an American writer whose work mainly centers around women in the Middle East. She traveled to Saudia Arab in 1978 to work in the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh as an administrative coordinator of medical affairs. During her time in the Middle East Sasson made many friends, including the members of the royal Al-Saud family. The most notable of these friendships was with "Princess Sultana", the princess whose life The Princess trilogy follows.

Under the pseudonym of Sultana, - in order to protect her identity - it narrates the story of a Saudi princess from the age of three to thirty offering an unfiltered glimpse of the bigotry, misogyny, violence, and injustice that outlines the lives of women in Saudi Arab. It is a memoir that talks about the suffocating sexism that pervades Saudi life.

Sultana talks about her childhood as she watches her innocent brother turn into something that closely resembles a monster due to not being held accountable for his wrongdoings and ill-treatment of the people around him and lavished with privileges that are only limited to the male members of the family. Thus this biased behavior and her brother's cruelty fuels her to become an advocate for women at a young age.

Growing up she realizes women in her country have close to no rights and longs to see them achieve some degree of freedom. When she finds out about 47 women who drove in the streets of Riyadh, during the Gulf War (1990-1991), as an act of rebellion against the law prohibiting women from driving, she is thrilled, only to hear rumors circulating that one of the group was put to death by her father.

As a young woman, Sultana reaches puberty which marks a time where she must wear a veil and an abaya. She watches her friend getting sentenced to death after she is raped and accused by the men of her "tempting" them. As her friend tries to plead her innocence, her words are ignored and those of the men are accepted as truth and they are allowed to walk free.

After seeing her sister, Sara's forced marriage to an abusive 62-year old man come to an abrupt unthinkable end, Sultana is determined to deter any suitors of her own. Though, she unexpectedly finds love and marries her liberal cousin Kareem, who supports women's rights. Soon, however, it becomes apparent that Kareem was only an advocate for women's rights as long as they did not hinder him or his life and after this revelation, Sultana leaves in secret with her three children in hopes that her husband will see the error of his ways.

Princess, is an overall well-written book that delivers its message with a simple straight forward writing style, giving a voice to silenced stories. Sasson does a wonderful job of recounting the story without picking political sides or condemning the country as a whole. Sultana remains immensely proud of her country and heritage yet still manages to see the faults of her culture and society.

Furthermore, Sultana realizes that by being a member of the royal family and being born in riches, regardless of how powerless her title is, she comes from a place of privilege and there are other women in the country who suffer much worse and unspeakable atrocities.

Even though the book was written in the 1980s when the rules were a lot stricter and women have a lot more basic rights today, namely the right to vote, drive, start their own business, their lives are still controlled by men and there is still a lot to be done in order to attain freedom and equality. Therefore, it evokes a feeling of outrage over such treatment of women and encourages people to take action and no longer remain silent about it. It drives others to take a stand for those who can not as the women in the country are fighting for change but their lives are still at risk within a highly oppressed society.

The book contains a litany of horrifying events and trigger warnings should be heeded before reading the book as even though, not explicitly described, the themes are prevalent throughout the book. There are inconceivable and heinous acts that Sultana comes to hear about or witnesses; abuse, rape, forced child marriages, clitoridectomy (female genital mutilation), and brutal death penalties under false allegations or minor indiscretions.