Caged Virgin

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Somalia, was raised as a Muslim, and spent her childhood and young adulthood in Africa and Saudi Arabia. In 1992 Hirsi Ali went to the Netherlands as a refugee, escaping a forced marriage to a distant cousin she had never met. She denounced Islam after 9/11 and now works as a Dutch parliamentarian, fighting for the rights of Muslim women in Europe, the enlightenment of Islam, and for security in the West.

'This is an immensely important book, passionate, challenging, and necessary. It should be read as widely as possible, because it tells the truth -- the unvarnished, uncomfortable truth' Salman Rushdie 'Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a brilliant and courageous woman on whom Europe's liberals have collectively turned their backs. Her memoir, The Caged Virgin, is a moving testament to the power of reason and should be read by everyone who values freedom of expression higher than religious censorship, and especially by all those who don't.' Andrew Anthony, OBSERVER 'The author of THE CAGED VIRGIN has no time for lily-livered political correctness ... This is a woman of exceptional toughness and bravery. In her angry clarion call of a book, she is not afraid to question some of the most sacred tenets of Islam ... What Islam needs, she feels, is a swift does of 18th-century enlightenment -- it's time to put down the Koran and pick up Voltaire ... She writes with passion, with burning indignation ... Everyone who cares about the systematic and legalised oppression of women should study this powerful cry for reason' Kate Saunders, SUNDAY TIMES 'THE CAGED VIRGIN is Intensely felt, and filled with anger' OBSERVER 'While Hirsi Ali never holds back in her criticism of Islam, she has valid and important recommendations about improving the plight of abused Muslim women. Tackling one of the most sensitive issues of our time with provocative and passionate arguments, The Caged Virgin is, above all else, a brave book' IRISH TIMES 'The Caged Virgin is a shocking read. Ayaan Hirsi Ali rages at crimes that are done to women by men... Her fury about these crimes makes her essays vibrant and inspiring' Guardian 2/12 'Western liberals who 'blame themselves for the ills of the world' are wrong, she says: 'Withholding criticism and ignoring difference is racism in its purest form.' It is Muslims who must become more self-critical...Her book is a potent reminder of the basic freedoms we too often take for granted' Observer 11/2