Freedom: The Story of My Second Life
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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 they d 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. Malika Oufkir, born in 1953, lives in Florida with her husband and two children. Her first book, Stolen Lives, was published in 2001 and was an international best seller. Library Journal Oufkir, whose first book, Stolen Lives, recounted her family's 20 years in Moroccan prisons, now continues her story up to the present, revealing what it was like to be thrust into the free world after years of confinement. A member of a privileged Moroccan family, Oukir had been imprisoned with her mother and sisters after her father, Gen. Mohammed Oufkir, was executed for his part in an attempted coup against the king of Morocco in 1972. Released into a sort of house arrest in 1987 after her sister escaped and initiated a public outcry, Malika and her family were finally allowed to leave the country in 1996. Here she explains how the world opened up for her, new and bewildering, first in France and then the United States. Her stories are both amusing and touching, as she takes on romance, ATMs, and faucets that turn on by themselves and copes with panic attacks that she calls "free-world syndrome." Finally, with the help of a loving husband, she can confront both practical and emotional obstacles, come to terms with her history, and take on the new challenge of adopting two children. Ever charming and gracious, Oufkir is a delight to spend time with. For all collections. Deirdre Bray Root, Middletown P.L., OH Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
