Jorien Hakvoort Books

Brought up as a Christian, Marina Nemat's peaceful childhood in Tehran was shattered when the Iranian Revolution of 1979 ushered in a new era of Islamic rule. After complaining to her teachers about her Maths lessons being replaced by Koran study, Marina was arrested late one evening. She was taken to the notorious prison, Evin, where interrogation and torture were part of the daily routine. Aged sixteen, she was sentenced to death. Her prison guard snatched her from the firing squad bullets but exacted a shocking price in return: marriage to him and conversion to Islam. Marina lived out her prison days as his secret bride, spending nights with him in a separate cell. Marina struggled to reconcile her hatred towards Ali and her feelings of physical repulsion with the fact that he had saved her life. When Ali was murdered by his enemies from Evin, and saved Marina's life for a second time, her feelings were complicated even further. At last she was able to return home, to her family and her past life, but silence surrounded her time as a political prisoner and the regime kept her under constant surveillance. Marina's world had been changed forever and she questions whether she will ever escape Iran and its regime or be free of her memories of Evin.

Waris Dirie (the name means desert flower) lives a double life - by day she is a famous model and UN spokeswoman on women's rights in Africa, at night she dreams of her native Somalia. Waris, one of 12 children, was born into a traditional family of desert nomads in East Africa. She remembers her early childhood as carefree- racing camels and moving on with her family to the next grazing spot - until it came her turn to meet the old woman who administered the ancient custom imposed on most Somalian girls: circumcision. Waris suffered this torture when she was just five years old. Then, aged 12, when her father attempted to arrange a marriage with a 60 year old stranger in exchange for five camels - she took flight. After an extraordinary escape through the dangerous desert she made her way to London and worked as a maid for the Somalian ambassador until that family returned home. Penniless and speaking little English, she became a janitor in McDonalds where she was famously discovered by a fashion photographer. Her story is a truly inspirational and extraordinary self-portrait of a remarkable woman whose spirit is as breathtaking as her beauty.

Roz Benegal, a feisty young BBC researcher, goes to India to pick up the threads of her life there (she spent part of her childhood growing up in Kerala). She goes to Bombay to visit her sister Miranda, who is married to a prominent Bollywood film director, Prosper. Roz arrives to news headlines announcing the deaths of 8 eunuchs in four months and to rumours that her sister's husband may have murdered his first wife Maya, a film star past her prime. Not satisfied to leave the investigations of these allegations to the Indian police, Roz Benegal begins a dangerous search for the truth. Interwoven with this utterly gripping detective story is a remarkable layering of knowledge gleaned from old books on storms, the monsoon, poisons and magical transformations, the narrator's fascination with chaos theory and her passionate interest in fate.

Autobiografie van het vermaarde fotomodel, dat zich als speciaal ambassadeur van de Verenigde Naties inzet voor de bestrijding van genitale verminking van vrouwen.