Freedom: The Story of My Second Life

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1401352065 ISBN 13: 9781401352066

Publisher: Miramax, 2006

Stolen Lives, Malika Oufkir's intensely moving account of her twenty years imprisoned in a desert jail in Morocco, was a surprise international best seller and the second non-fiction title ever selected for Oprah's Book Club.

In her highly anticipated follow-up, Malika reflects on the life she lived before and during incarceration and how dramatically the world had changed when she emerged. Malika Oufkir was born into extreme privilege as the daughter of the king of Morocco's closest aide, and she grew up in the palace as companion to the Moroccan princess. But in 1972, her life of luxury came to a crashing halt.Her father was executed for attempting to assassinate the king, and she and her family were locked away for two decades. After a remarkable escape, Malika and her family returned to the world theyd left behind, only to find it transformed.

Living for the first time as an adult, Malika writes candidly about adjusting to the world we take for granted, from negotiating ATMs to the excesses of shopping malls, to falling in love and sex. In Stolen Lives, Malika mourned the children she was not having as she wasted away in prison. When she is finally free, motherhood becomes crucial to Malika's ability to fully live her life: she adopts first her niece, then a baby boy from Morocco. Full of insight and piercing observations, as well as humor, Freedom is as masterful and thoughtprovoking as the original.

About the Author:

Malika Oufkir, born in 1953, lives in Florida with her husband and children. Her first book was published in 2001 and was an international bestseller.

Review:

". . . the unfathomable conditions she and her family endured and the remarkable will and sense of humor that kept them alive." -- Glamour

"A gripping memoir . . . the reader is left in awe." -- Washington Post

"A gripping memoir." -- Washington Post Book World

"A riveting and profoundly affecting account of survival." -- Time Out New York

"Extremely effective and graphic." -- Booklist

"Will fascinate readers with its singular tale." -- Publishers Weekly