This purports to be the memoirs of a Saudi princess, as written by her Western friend and confidante. It was an easy read and I devoured it within a few hours. However, I had the following issues with the book:

1. There appears to be some kind of plagiarism case surrounding this book (Google it), which makes me question whether this is in fact a true story;

2. Some of the details in the book ring false such as women being forbidden to enter the mosque and the protagonist's older sisters having undergone FGM. FGM is not widely practised in Saudi Arabia and apparently it is the intervention of a Western doctor that prevents the family from carrying on the practice;

3. I believe this book caters to what Western readers expect to hear about women's life in Saudi Arabia rather than depicting the reality there. Tragic incident is heaped upon tragic incident. All the men in the book are utterly irredeemable and have a voracious and perverted sexual appetite;

4. It's rather difficult to have a huge degree of sympathy for the eponymous princess when a lot of the narrative exposition takes place whilst she is being served tea and sweets, and having her feet rubbed by her Filipina maid. This woman gets a hell of a lot of foot rubs. I would like to see a follow up book: Maid to the Princess.

A gripping read, but rather a composite of media reportage, the author's own experience, stereotypes and anecdotal evidence, than a true story.