Gaddafi's Harem: The Story of a Young Woman and the Abuses of Power in Libya - Hardcover

Praise for Gaddafi's Harem "An absolutely fascinating book."--Tina Brown, speaking on NPR Morning Edition "Deeply disturbing . . . [Cojean] makes her case solidly. . . . Cojean's dogged reporting leads us to the same sad path the world has trudged down before. It is the weakest--the poor, the women, the children--who suffer the most."--Minneapolis Star Tribune "Acclaimed French journalist Annick Cojean unveils the deranged dictator's deviant sexual regime and his enslavement of young women throughout the country. The details are shockingly graphic and the stories horrifying, made even more so by the victim-shaming that has silenced the women in the aftermath."--New York Daily News "Not only should Cojean be praised for her unveiling of Gaddafi's sexual atrocities, but more importantly, she has drawn attention to the severe improvement needed concerning women's rights in Libya."--Libya for the Free "Annick Cojean provides a fact-based corrective to those fooled by Gaddafi's illusions, specifically those impressed by the radical feminist image evoked by his once highly visible--and sexily transgressive--corps of 'Amazon' body guards."--Libya Now "In this compelling work of non-fiction, renowned French journalist Annick Cojean tells a story that is the stuff of nightmares. . . . An important book for anyone interested in women's rights, social justice and international news."--Winnipeg Free Press "Cojean traces the tragic arc of Soraya's life under Gaddafi's iron rule--and reveals the systematic abuses of the despot who palled around with world leaders in public and who submitted his subjects (both male and female, powerful and lowly) to his cruel private lusts."--The Daily Beast "Exposes the full extent of Gaddafi's brutality. . . . It's hard not to weep at the cruelty one man inflicted on so many. . . . [But Cojean's] persistence and Soraya's courage have been rewarded. The fact that Cojean's book has been translated into Arabic and is now freely available in Libya offers a small ray of hope for the future safeguarding of women's rights in that troubled nation."--Independent "In this horrifying inside look at the lives of Libyan women under the Gaddafi regime, Cojean, a special correspondent for Le Monde, has created a work of powerful and compelling nonfiction that will stagger readers. . . . A journalistic expos that can not be denied and that readers will not be able to put down."--Booklist (starred review) "A harrowing read, difficult to put down. . . . Cojean details Gaddafi's perversion, the lengths to which his inner circle would go to satisfy his desire for women and power, and the systemic use of rape as a weapon of terror. She also elucidates the astounding challenges still faced by women who have been abused and enslaved under his regime, shedding light on an aspect of the dictatorship often hidden or dismissed, even within Libya. Gripping, deeply disturbing, and compulsively readable. Readers interested in women's rights, global issues, or Gaddafi's regime will find this book fascinating."--Library Journal (starred review) "A renowned French journalist for Le Monde uncovers another level of monstrousness in the recently overthrown dictatorship of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. . . .A moving and disturbing wake-up call to the personal costs of totalitarianism."--Publishers Weekly "In one moment, Gaddafi had indeed marked Soraya as special. And soon she would disappear completely. What happened to Soraya is recounted in Annick Cojean's staggering new book."--New York Post "A personal account from one of Muammar Gaddafi's former sex slaves. . . sheds even more light on the strange and terrifying lifestyle of Libya's former dictator."--Daily Mail "A terrifying book-length investigation whose journalist author follows the trail of Soraya, bringing her story to life before embarking on a broader, no less chilling investigation into Gaddafi's "system of sexual slaves," the violated women that Gaddafi called his "girls." She shows all the distress, loneliness, and fear of these young women, victims not only of a dictator but also of a society that considers their dishonor to be a national disgrace better left unspoken."--Livres Hebdo "Kidnapping, rape, humiliation. This was the fate of so many women who were held at the mercy of Colonel Gaddafi. In this shocking book, Annick Cojean gives these women a voice. . . [Gaddafi's Harem] will stay with you for a long time . . . Cojean describes a terrifying system where young women were forced to satisfy the perverse desires of the "Guide," under threat of terrible reprisals. . . . An exceptional piece of reporting."--Elle (France) "If you think you have discovered all of the quirks in Gaddafi's character, you are mistaken. . . A study taken with great audacity by a senior reporter for Le Monde, and at some personal risk since these crimes are completely taboo in Libya, even today. Astonishing."--Le Figaro "This is a subject that is still taboo, even in the new Libya, a country which has barely overthrown its former tyrant. . . . Gaddafi joyfully paraded around like a feminist of the East, avowing his struggle "to liberate the women of the Arab nation." But, completely at odds with the Bedouin suffragette Gaddafi pretended to be, Gaddafi's Harem shockingly reveals his sexual exploitation of an entire country."--Le Point "You follow this remarkable investigation and relive the nightmare. Gaddafi's Harem bears witness to an entire system that used rape as a weapon of terror."--Marie Claire (France) "Annick Cojean's book, written in a precise and ultra-sensitive language, assembles facts and testimonies that appall, while also giving a behind-the-scenes view of high-risk reporting. Outstanding."--Paris Match "Lifts the veil on the terrible sexual abuses perpetrated by Gaddafi. A fantastic investigation. . . . Page after page, Cojean gives a name, a face and a voice to the victims of this devastating suffering."--L'Express "In 2011, Annick Cojean, senior reporter at Le Monde and special correspondent for Tripoli, wrote a shock article titled "Gaddafi's sexual slave," which was published on November 16 and which told the story of Soraya, a twenty-two-year old Libyan woman who had been kidnapped and held captive since the age of 15. In 2012, Cojean returned to Libya to continue her investigation. Her book, Gaddafi's Harem, takes Soraya as its starting point to recount the fates of so many other women. She has gone to remarkable lengths - rape is the highest taboo in Libya - to collect these women's stories."--Le Monde "This brutally honest account of a forty-two-year-long reign of terror and depravity, kidnappings and rape, plunges us headfirst into the dramatic story of Libyan womanhood and the law of silence imposed by Muammar Gaddafi."--Stiletto "Special correspondent at French newspaper Le Monde, Annick Cojean is an all-terrain journalist: she landed the final interview Princess Diana gave in 1997, but also won the Prix Albert-Londres for her set of reports entitled "Rembering the Shoah." . . .Gaddafi's Harem is at once poignant, terrifying, and unsettling."--24 heures (Switzerland)

Soraya was just fifteen, 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 bestseller 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.