Trapped

A Mother's Quest to Reclaim Her Daughters

by Alexandra Karb

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Pub Date Apr 01 2019 | Archive Date Aug 06 2019

Literary Fiction

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Description

When Alexandra attempts to end an abusive marriage, her husband Tareq abducts their infant daughters from their Montreal home and deposits them with his family in a primitive village in Jordan. Trying to retrieve them through legal means, Alexandra comes face to face with Arab cultures where children belong to the father's family and women have no rights to them. She puts a promising career as a medical researcher on hold, sets off alone to Jordan and succeeds in an audacious plan to smuggle her daughters back home. But upon returning to Canada, she finds a judicial system that is unable to protect her children from being kidnapped again -- this time for good, forcing her back to a life with the abusive husband. For the next twenty years, while achieving a PhD and working as a respected scientist, she submits to her husband's tyranny for the sake of her daughters. Her coping mechanism is to dissociate herself from constant verbal and emotional abuse and live as an observant stranger trapped in a life not of h

When Alexandra attempts to end an abusive marriage, her husband Tareq abducts their infant daughters from their Montreal home and deposits them with his family in a primitive village in Jordan...

Advance Praise

"A tragic yet inspiring story of a mother’s sacrifice and courage to protect her children from being kidnapped by their father a second time. However the cost of her sacrifice leaves a history and present of wounds and scars that run deep for Alexandra and her daughters." --Lorinda Stewart, best selling author of One Day Closer

"Alexandra Karb’s story is so incredible and dramatic as to defy belief. That it actually happened will only enhance readers’ investment in this gripping, moving, and important story about a woman’s quest for autonomy, a mother’s love, and a heroine’s journey through trauma and loss into light and peace."--Priscilla Gilman, author of The Anti-Romantic Child: A Story of Unexpected Joy and The Critic’s Daughter

Available Editions

EDITION	Other Format
ISBN	9781771833486
PRICE	$25.00 (USD)

Additional Information

Average rating from 5 members

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Featured Reviews

Renee G, Reviewer

There have been many books written about children who have been abducted by their father and taken to an Arab country. And yet, this book had a profound effect on me. I thought it was very well written and the imagery was superb. Highly recommended

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Cathy G, Reviewer

Trapped by Alexandra Karb

This book started out as a letter written by the author to the man who would become the author’s second husband. It details the memories of her 23 years with a man who was verbally abusive throughout their relationship. It tells some of the experiences she had while giving some insight into how her life came about as it did. It is not an easy book to read because it tells of a woman trapped in a situation without a way to get free and also keep her children.

Here I have to say that having lived in Jordan and Saudi Arabia I know of what the author speaks when talking about the customs, foods, lands and people. I know the laws that say a child belongs with the father if there is a divorce. I have known women who were brought to a country under false pretenses and stayed in difficult marriages to be there for their children. I have also known women who have lost their children or met children who lost their mothers when a divorce has taken place. This story hit home in many ways.

That said, I also have to say that not all marriages of western women to Arab men end up as this author’s did. There are many of my friends that have loving husbands and happy families. I have been married to my Lebanese husband for over forty years. It is not always easy to live in a culture that is not your own but it does help to have a relationship that includes commitment, communication and respect and Ms Harb did not find that in her relationship with Tareq.

I can’t say I enjoyed reading this book because the story was not a happy one and I kept wishing I could find a solution that would erase the 23 years the author experienced. I did wonder at the end of the book what happened later. Did Tareq disappear from the picture entirely? Did the daughters find happiness in their own lives? Did the author find peace and companionship with her second husband?

Thank you to NetGalley and Guernica Editions-Miroland for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars