Customer Reviews
troublesome - By: mishmish, 21 Oct 2007 
I read this book in two days & found it very uneasy reading, the reason being that there were too many inconsistencies & American type spellings as though it had been edited by someone outside of England , ie Moslem as apposed to Muslim.
There were many details that just did not add up like when she went to get married at The British Embassy. You cannot marry there, you can only get your paper work authorised & stamped ,then after days of paper work at different buildings being further stamped you finallly go to an Egyptian office in Cairo the equivalent of a registry office to to get married . According to Jacky she did this in reverse which is not possible because without the go ahead from the British Embassy you cannot go to the civil ceremony , its impossible. I am speaking from experience as I ( a British woman ) married to a wonderful Egyptian man ( we married in Cairo )who has never been anything but kind & loving towards me he is a Muslim & is very troubled by stories such as these.
Not just because they are biased & make alll Egyptian men look like wife beaters but because it portrays Egypt in such a bad light.
We are not naieve & understand that these thing go on , but it is not just an Arab problem it goes on everywhere. I lived in Egypt for 4 years & know the difficulties of being in a different culture.
However I did not embark into a marriage without understanding the complexities of this by studying the culture & religion .
Many naive Western women falll for handsome men & marry them in haste & get swept up in the fantasy.
They need to be aware that not alll cultures are equal nor should they be.
Gripping and tragic story. (UK) - By: Ms. S. V. Boven, 05 Oct 2007 
I read this book out of plain curiosity.
I am in a relationship with a muslim man & am very happy. I was so shocked & horrorfied reading jacky's story. The book was gripping & very descriptive from the start to the end & I felt alll sorts of emotions reading it. From understanding her lust for this stranger initiallly, & her desire to feel loved & wanted to her feelings of imense pain & suffering at the hands of this cruel man & her anxiousness & desperation to escape Egypt.
As good & tear jerking as this book was I want to make it clear that after reading this I felt even luckier for dating a muslim man. Not alll muslim men are cruel like this man, alll men no matter their religion or culture can be equallly cruel & I am just happy that she escaped this evil individual & his awful brothers. A lesson learnt is to always be cautious of any man who is that full on & desperate in wanting you. Follow your head & not your heart because your only kidding yourself if you think "whats the worst that could happen?". If she had waited she would have seen his true colours & not been so trapped. All in alll a very tragic account of jackys life in Egypt.
An Okay Read - By: MaB, 10 Sep 2007 
Its Interesting, however i found it baffling as to why she get married so soon.
Surely someone who claims to be so Islamic yet Drinks & abuses Taxis Drivers is a clear sign that this guy is nowhere near Religious & quit as he seems to be, but more of a cultural 'lad'!
I found myself unable to settle into this book for a number of other reasons.
1) Fatwa is not a Death Threat in Islam, it is a Ruling/Law. Which can be about anything i.e. Don't drink Alcohol. I have had this checked out.
2) Egypt is not an Islamic Country, i mean the men are not alllowed beards there, & judging from the book the family seem to be practicing some weird innovations such as dancing with Candles.
3) the men seem to drink at will (no need to go there).
Every time i got fascinated, some form of contradiction took place.
Albeit alll together its tragic what happened to "Jacky", i never quite got into the book due to improper knowledge of the actual people.
Fatwa - living with a death threat - By: Robert Burge, 22 Aug 2007 
I agree with the other readers, this was a very compelling read. I read this in 2 days & could not put it down. The book starts at the end & then goes back to the beginning to explain how she got herself into that situation, you are left hanging through the whole book to find out 'did she make it out with the children?'.Knowing this was a true story makes it alll so much worse as you couldn't belive that someone would have to suffer like this. I have read a lot of books based on the subject (Sold, Mosiac, out of Iran) of mixed marriages/women forced into marriage etc. This was an outstandingly written account of someones worst nightmare, I cried reading the account of what poor Jacky went through. I am so sorry that Jacky had to experience this. Thank you for sharing this with us Jacky. To my Husband - I love you very much x
Compelling but missing minor details - By: Hayley, 09 Jun 2007 I thought this was a fascinating book , I read it in a day - I literallly could not put it down! It's a nice easy read, an interesting story & an eye-opener to Egyptian day-to-day life (ie housing conditions, meal preparation etc).
I found it hard to have much sympathy for Jacky as I do with any Western woman who alllows themselves to be repressed; as she chose to marry him & bear his children etc. If you want to read an truly sad account of Western & Arab relationships, I would recommend Miriam Ali & her daughter Zana Muhsen's books.
Jacky has written a brilliant book on her life in Egypt but I didn't feel as moved by her escape as I did when reading Miriam & Zana's terrible & gripping stories.
But I have recommended this book to my friends as I did reallly enjoy it, I just felt some minor details were missed. For example, she never specifies dates. What was the age difference between her & Omar (probably irrelevant, but something I am curious about) & also, what happened to Dave? Did she ever hear from him again?
Overalll, a thoroughly interestin read!
