Soraya was a schoolgirl in the coastal town of Sirte, when she was given the honour of presenting a bouquet of flowers to Colonel Gaddafi, "the Guide," on a visit he was making the following week. This one meeting - a presentation of flowers, a pat on the head from Gaddafi - changed Soraya's life forever. Soon afterwards, she was summoned to Bab al-Azizia, Gaddafi's palatial compound near Tripoli, where she joined a number of young women who were violently abused, raped and degraded by Gaddafi. Heartwrenchingly tragic but ultimately redemptive, Soraya's story is the first of many that are just now beginning to be heard.

In Gaddafi's Harem, Le Monde special correspondent Annick Cojean gives a voice to Soraya's story, and supplements her investigation into Gaddafi's abuses of power through interviews with other women who were abused by Gaddafi, and those who were involved with his regime, including a driver who ferried women to the compound, and Gaddafi's former Chief of Security.

Gaddafi's Harem is an astonishing portrait of the essence of dictatorship: how power gone unchecked can wreak havoc on the most intensely personal level, as well as a document of great significance to the new Libya.

An unforgettably terrifying portrait of tyrannical monstrosity. * Evening Standard (Books of the Year) *
Gaddafi's political excesses have been well documented. His sexual crimes are only now coming to light. By sharing his victims' stories, Annick Cojean, a reporter for Le Monde, opens the floodgates. Her account of a sex-obsessed tyrant exposes the full extent of Gaddafi's brutality. * The Independent on Sunday *
An astonishing book...I challenge anyone to read this book and sleep easy in their own bed as the world stands by and dictators in places such as Syria and Zimbabwe continue to inflict untold horrors on their people. * The Sunday Times *
A powerful new book. * Daily Mail *
An exceptional piece of reporting. * Elle (France) *
Astonishing. * Le Figaro *
An incredibly brave new book... Every chapter has a sting, every woman's sorrow singes. * The Hindu *

Annick Cojean, foreign correspondent for Le Monde, is one of France's most widely admired journalists. She chairs the committee for the Prix Albert Londres, having won the prize herself in 1996, and has published a number of books.