The Tears of Sheba: Tales of Survival and Intrigue in Arabia

Imagine a country where a girl of 11 can be rejected by her family because she refuses the sexual advances of a ‘husband’ three times her age, where a girl of 14 might be poisoned by her own family because she has been raped and where any insult might be avenged with blood. Yet, this is also a country in which guests are honoured with excessive generosity even by the poorest families and defended to the death if necessary. This is Sheba , once the land of milk and honey, but in the 1960s it became war–torn Yemen. A land straight from the Arabian Nights, Yemen remains a society in which proud Bedouin roam the desert, where loyalty, blood ties and honour mean everything. It was in this environment that Khadija al–Salami grew up in a walled city under siege, in which she witnessed things that no child should be compelled to see. This is the tale of how she overcame her traumatic childhood and fought her way alone in a man’s world. It is a tale of adventure, tragedy and survival. Khadija’s experiences are unique, yet the lessons are universal. She shows that it is not the events in your life but how you deal with them that determine your life course.

Acknowledgements. Map. Cast of characters. Prologue. 1. Incense and insurrection. 2. Earliest memories. 3. The promised land. 4. The warrior’s life. 5. Perpetual passage. 6. The Murzahs. 7. Custody battle. 8. Growing up. 9. An unexpected visitor. 10. Scars. 11. Revolt. 12. Career woman. 13. Blossoming. 14. Unlikely rebel. 15. France. 16. The kingmakers. 17. Tying the knot ^ halfway. 18. Mayhem. 19. Spiral to war. 20. Like father like sons. 21. Showdown. Epilogue. Chronology. Glossary. Bibliography. Index.

Khadija al–Salami grew up in Yemen in an almost feudal environment. Her life was devastated by the impact of civil war, which mentally destroyed her father and made him unable to care for his family. Determined to escape the poverty, death and destruction around her, Khadija, at the age of 12, asked the local TV station to let her host a programme for children. She later used the money that she received for these broadcasts to travel to the United States to study. She graduated from Mount Vernon College in Washington DC and, after undertaking postgraduate study in Film production, returned to Yemen to continue working at the Yemeni TV station. She subsequently joined the Yemeni Embassy in Paris, where she is currently Press and Cultural Attaché and Director of the Yemeni Information Centre. She lives in Paris with her husband, Charles Hoots.

“…Tears of Sheba hopefully will give some curious readers a deeper glimpse of both the positive and negative aspects [Yemen]…” (The Journal (Northumberland), 18 December 2003) “… a deeply engaging portrayal of what the changes that have rockedYemen in the past 40 years mean…” (Yemen Observer, 17 January 2004) “This book will put all your worries in perspective.” (Be Unlimited, May 04)