Sold by Zana Muhsen with Andrew Crofts Little Brown $255 ZANA and Nadia Muhsen were ordinary teenagers in Birmingham, England. They lived above a fish and chip shop and went off every week to the local Family Association Centre discos.
In 1980, when Zana was 15 and Nadia 14, their father told them they were going on a wonderful holiday to the Yemen, his home country, their first adventure abroad. In fact, Muthana Muhsen had sold them into marriage and virtual slavery, for GBP1,300 each.
Eight years later, after their plight became publicly known, Zana managed to leave and go back to Britain. Her struggle to free her sister is still continuing.
This book tells Zana's story. It is a story that can only add fuel to incomprehension, fears and prejudices of Islamic Arab culture. It pits women against men, liberal Western culture against the Arab world.
Of course, selfish, barbaric men are not unique to Islamic societies. But what makes this book such an indictment of that culture and lifted beyond a family battle is the fact that the male-dominated Yemeni establishment chose to close ranks behind the men.
It should have been simple for the women to have reported their case to the police and been returned home. But not in the Yemen. The authorities did everything to keep them, even though Zana believes their marriages were illegal under Islamic law because they had not consented to them.