STOLEN LIVES

From spoiled palace darling to political prisoner, Oufkir has a life that is the stuff of fiction come horribly true. After her father's failed coup and execution, the King of Morocco imprisoned Oufkir and her family members in remote and harsh surroundings. Eventually some escaped, but not before years and years of privation. This is a tale that demands to be heard read by someone whose voice commands attention--not by decibel level, but by timbre, urgency, and faultless pronunciation. Edita Brychta IS Malika, the teenage party girl made wiser by hindsight and transformed into a tough and inventive captive determined to keep her family alive and sane. The abridgment flows well and, fortunately, includes some descriptive details of palace life such as the harem, the existence of which Malika takes for granted but Westerners would not. J.B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/ JAN 02]