This was an excellent story about two young women (ages 14 & 16) who grew up loving their lives in England (though dealing with a strict father). When men come to visit their home, and their father are speaking in Arabic to these men (which the girls didn't know the language at the time), he sells them as brides to the men's sons for 1300 pounds each. They believe they are going on a vacation to see Yemen. When they arrive to their destination, they are blown away by the awful location and massive heat and rough time of climbing mountains to get to their new homes. They are given to their "husbands" and are made to work under tremendous stress by their in-laws while not understanding Arabic (though eventually learning it).

The whole time that they are in Yemen, the girls want to go back home to England, though their in-laws hope that they will change their minds if they have children. Their mum fights to get her children back, since she had no idea what was happening to them. Their mother was a warrior.

This was an incredible story and definitely shows what is still happening today to many young girls from around the world who are sold off as brides to men and boys and are battered and raped by "husbands". This is the second book I've read with a story like this, and it was filled with descriptions that put you in their shoes.

My copy of this book is old, so I am unsure as to what has since happened to Nadia & her family and Marcus. I hope that if anyone reads the updated version of this book, they can let me know if they read my review! I only found rumors of what happened through the internet. My heart is so sad for these women.

Sure there were some spelling errors in the book, and grammatical problems, but it wasn't often.

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This was great book. How these 2 sisters were tricked by their father into loveless marriages. They were brought up in England and told they were going on vacation to Yemen only to find out when they got there the father sold them and they were already married. The conditions in which they lived in were terrible. It took years for Zena to escape and get back to England. We don't know how easy we have it in this country until we read about how these poor women are mistreated, abused, with no freedom at all and are forced to live in terrible conditions

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Zana Muhsen, born and bred in Birmingham, is of Yemeni origin. When her father told her she was to spend a holiday with relatives in North Yemen, she jumped at the chance. Aged 15 and 13 respectively, Zana and her sister discovered that they had been literally sold into marriage, and that on their arrival they were virtually prisoners. They had to adapt to a completely alien way of life, with no running water, dung-plastered walls, frequent beatings, and the ordeal of childbirth on bare floors with only old women in attendance. After 8 years of misery and humiliation, Zana succeeded in escaping, but her sister is still there, and it seems likely that she will now never leave the country where she has spent more than half her life. This is an updated edition of Zana's account of her experiences.

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