Mirage

The engrossing story of Amira, a young girl from a wealthy and powerful family, Mirage takes readers behind the veil of secrecy to expose the real lives of women in today's harems. Amira expects to be sold into marriage and never to step outside her house without being swathed in black veils and accompanied by an escort. But she's not prepared for the savagery of the husband she first meets on her wedding night, or the increasingly oppressive control he is allowed to exert over her. Finally, in a daring attempt to save her life and sanity, Amira escapes with her baby to start a new life in the United States. But her past - and her powerful husband - won't give her up easily. Mirage is also the story of other harem women. From the death by stoning of a young mother convicted of adultery to the desperate measures taken by a woman whose husband has brought a second wife into their home, Mirage tells the stories of the enduring strength and courage of women who defy the yoke of male dominance. Born to a prominent Saudi Arabian family, author Soheir Khashoggi has seen first-hand the lives of the pampered, indulged - and sometimes abused - women of modern-day harems. The sister of financier Adnan Khashoggi, she has also seen the glittering playgrounds of the western world. In Mirage she brings these two worlds together in a magnificent novel of passion and power. It is the novel that only Soheir Khashoggi could write.