Women in Saudi Society - Rated 
Carmen was born in Switzerland and had been brought up with western values. However, in 1974 she married into the Bin Laden family and her life completely changed. As penetrating Saudi culture is difficult as it is one of the most powerful, secretative and repressive kingdoms, this book provides a unique insight of Women in Saudi Society and gives us a chance to appreciate their mentality. It also makes the reader appreciate what freedom means, something that most of us take for granted. Saudi society is so different, you might as well be describing another planet or universe.
A fascinating insight into life behind the scenes in Saudi Arabia - Rated 
Carmen was born in Switzerland of a Swiss father and Persian (Iranian) mother. She frequently spent holidays in Iran with her mother's family, but had little contact with her father after he left them when she was nine.
Yeslam Bin Ladin was holidaying in Switzerland when they met and fell in love. They spent the early years of their married life in America, and there their first baby, Wafah, was born.
It was not until they moved to Saudi to further Yeslam's career, that any problems arose.
For many years Carmen lived under the repressive regime of Saudi Arabia, with severely restricted freedoms for all women. It was a life that we in the West cannot begin to contemplate.
When finally she broke away, it was concern for the future of her daughters that motivated her. she wonders herself whether things might have been different had she had sons instead.
This is Carmen's very personal account of her life behind the scenes in a country that has such different attitudes to ours, influenced heavily by an extreme form of Islam.
Eloquent and Timely - Rated
I reccommend this book to anyone wanting a readable introduction to understanding the nature of Saudi Arabia, Wahabbi islam, and the society that produced Osama bin Laden, and, in her final chapter, the danger that now facces the West. Carmen bin Ladin, Osama's former sister-in-law, writes of her curtailed and limited life during her marriage into the bin-Ladin clan with the depth of understanding of a woman who is descended from and knows two worlds
- the european/american (post-)christian West and islamic Iran - and has spent a considerable part of her life at the heart of a third, wahabbi Saudi Arabia.
An Exceptional Read - Rated
This book is truly amazing. Carmen gives a great review on how life is really like within the Bin Lardin family. I admirer her courage upon her journey in Saudi Arabia.
My heart whet out to the family especially after September the 11th.
She had to make a huge choice when taking her daughters out of Saudi Arabia , however I truly believe she made the right choice.
This book is worth every penny.
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