The adopted daughter of the king of Morocco, whose father was arrested and executed for a 1972 attempt to assassinate the king, tells the story of how she, her mother, and her five siblings endured years of imprisonment in a desert penal colony. Photos.

"While accounts of the unjust arrest and torture of political prisoners are by now common, we expect such victims to come with a just cause. Here, Oufkir tells of the 20-year imprisonment of her upper-class Moroccan family following a 1972 coup attempt against King Hassan II by her father, a close military aide...Oufkir's experience does not fit easily into current perceptions of political prisoners victimized for their beliefs or actions. In fact, she was the adopted daughter of King Muhammad V, Hassan II's father, sent by her parents at age five to be raised in the court with the king's daughter as her companion and equal. Beyond horrifying images such as mice nibbling at a rich girl's face, this erstwhile princess's memoir will fascinate readers with its singular tale of two kindly fathers, political struggles in a strict monarchy and a family's survival of cruel, prolonged deprivation. "

"Here is a true story that is almost beyond belief."

"This is a remarkably candid chronicle of courage in which the strength of the human spirit, close to collapse, finally wins through."

"The story of an extraordinary escape."

"A gripping combination of fairy-tale, horror-story, and thriller."

"This incredible tale is true. It happened at the end of the 20th century. It speaks of the terrible acts of which all men are capable. And it teaches us an amazing lesson about humanity."

"[H]eart-stopping and suspenceful....[A] remarkable memoir..."     -- Amy Wilentz

"STOLEN LIVES - published as the bestseller LA PRISONNIERE in France - is Oufkir's story of exile and return. Elegantly narrated by Michele Fitoussi, literary editor of French Elle, the book does double service. It exposes the brutality of Hassan's regime, and it gives us a way to measure the tensile strength of the human spirit."
-- Ellen Clegg

A gripping memoir that reads like a political thriller – the story of Malika Oufkir's turbulent and remarkable life. Born in 1953, Malika Oufkir was the eldest daughter of General Oufkir, the King of Morocco's closest aide. Adopted by the king at the age of five, Malika spent most of her childhood and adolescence in the seclusion of the court harem, one of the most eligible heiresses in the kingdom, surrounded by luxury and extraordinary privelige.

Then, on August 16, 1972, her father was arrested and executed after an attempt to assassinate the king. Malika, her five younger brothers and sisters, and her mother were immediately imprisoned in a desert penal colony. After twenty years, the last ten of which they spent locked up in solitary cells, the Oufkir children managed to dig a tunnel with their bare hands and make an audacious escape. Recaptured after five days, Malika was finally able to leave Morocco and begin a new life in exile in 1996.

A heartrending account in the face of extreme deprivation and the courage with which one family faced its fate, Stolen Lives is an unforgettable story of one woman's journey to freedom.