Gaddafi's Harem

The Story of a Young Woman and the Abuses of Power in Libya

De: Annick Cojean

Narrado por: Laura Raynor Sauriat

Soraya was just 15, a schoolgirl in the coastal town of Sirte, when she was given the honor of presenting a bouquet of flowers to Colonel Gaddafi, the "Guide", on a visit he was making to her school the following week. This one meeting, a presentation of flowers, a pat on the head from Gaddafi, changed Soraya’s life forever. Soon afterwards, she was summoned to Bab al-Azizia, Gaddafi’s palatial compound near Tripoli, where she joined a number of young women who were violently abused, raped and degraded by Gaddafi. Heartwrenchingly tragic but ultimately redemptive, Soraya’s story is the first one of many that are just now beginning to be heard. But sex and rape remain the highest taboo in Libya, and women like Soraya (whose identity is protected by a pseudonym here) risk being disowned or even killed by their dishonored family members. In Gaddafi’s Harem, an instant best seller on publication in France, where it has already sold more than 100,000 copies in hardcover, Le Monde special correspondent Annick Cojean gives a voice to Soraya’s story, and supplements her investigation into Gaddafi’s abuses of power through interviews with people who knew Soraya, as well as with other women who were abused by Gaddafi.

©2012 Editions Grasset & Fasquelle. Translation © 2013 Marjolijn de Jager. Recorded by arrangement with Grove/Atlantic, Inc. (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Corruption through power well detailed

I believe that when most if not everyone who hears the name Gaddafi, a slick talking dictator who was killed by rebels automatically comes to mind. However, this book records the account of a young girl who outlines just how far this dictator went via his obsession with kidnapping, grooming, raping, and making slaves out of his own country's children. Through first-person accounts, the details of Gaddafi's abuse towards his female prisoners (many turned Amazonian guards) are stomach turning. The narrator's performance is well executed. Through her performance, it's as if you are with the victim and feeling her struggles. This book is a much needed addition to the character of the late President Gaddafi.

Must read riveting

gaddafi was a frightening man. so crazy. and bizarre. I wonder if condelezza rice really made it out of libya safely.