Reviews

Oufkir, the child of a general, was adopted at the age of five by King Mohammed and brought up as a companion to his daughter. Eleven years later, she returned home to a three-year adolescence of wealth and privilege, where she consorted with movie stars and royalty. In 1961, Hassin II succeeded his father as king, and Oufkir's father was executed after staging a coup against the new regime. For the next 15 years, Oufkir, her mother, and her five siblings were confined to a desert prison and subjected to inhuman conditions. Oufkir's description of their day-to-day survival during these years is the heart of the book. The family finally escaped by digging a tunnel, were recaptured, and today live in Paris, where Oufkir eventually found love and marriage with a French architect. A best seller in France, this riveting story will find an audience here, but just how much of an audience is yet to be determined. Recommended for all general collections. Frances Sandiford, Green Haven Correctional Facility Lib., Stormville, NY Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Brychta's suave and subtle Arabic lilt perfectly capture this first-person narration of a Moroccan family's harsh exile as punishment for the transgressions of its patriarch. After enjoying a fairy tale upbringing as the adopted daughter of King Muhammad V in his palace, Oufkir, along with her mother and siblings, was imprisoned in a succession of desert jails after her father engineered a failed coup against the king's heir, King Hassan II, in 1972. The Oufkirs were forced to endure 20 years of solitude, infested prison cells and the ever-worsening depravity of their captors. Oufkir worked with Fitoussi to produce a crisp memoir that bristles with imagery, perhaps owing to Oufkir's continual storytelling in jail to try to keep her family's misery temporarily at bay. The production is gracefully laced with haunting Middle Eastern airs, which, in conjunction with Brychta's voice, render a truly otherworldly feel. A central tension here is in the currency of a story that seems possible only in an age long gone. A chronicle of endurance and the aftereffects of a grim ordeal, this engaging recording inspires as just as much indignation as it does admiration. Based on the Talk Miramax hardcover (Forecasts, Jan. 29). (July) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.