Joseph Delaney used to be an English teacher, before becoming the best-selling author of the Spook's series, which has been published in 30 countries and sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide. The first book, The Spook's Apprentice, was adapted into a major motion picture starring Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore.

Joseph Delaney

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THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
'A dramatic, poignant and astonishing untold story of the Holocaust.' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE 
 
‘Extraordinary. One of the most haunting episodes of the war.’ DAILY MAIL 
 
'The remarkable story of a unique event - the reprieve of 51 Hungarian Jewish teenagers already naked and trapped inside the gas chambers.' PROFESSOR ROBERT JAN VAN PELT 
 
An unforgettable testament to hope and the bonds of brotherhood, Miracle reveals the untold story of the boys who escaped the gas chamber in Auschwitz, the only known group of Holocaust survivors to walk away from the jaws of the Nazi killing machine. 
 
Early on the morning of October 10, 1944, eight-hundred boys, aged between 13 and 17, were taken out of Block 11 at Auschwitz. The night before, during a visit by Dr Josef Mengele, their identification cards had been stamped with a solitary German word – gestorben – 'died' in English. They were then marched by 25 bayonet-wielding SS men to Crematorium 5, stripped, and herded into a gas chamber. 
 
This book is the story of a true-life miracle of the fifty-one boys who were pulled from that gas chamber – the only Holocaust survivors known to have escaped such a close brush with the Nazi killing machine – and given a second chance at life. A life, of course, that would be so horrifically snatched from those around them. 
 
Based on the first-hand testimonies of six of the boys, six survivors whose stories are shared in this book for the very first time, Miracle interweaves the lives of the boys and the grander sweep of history in which they were held. The result is an unforgettable tale of hope, faith and fortitude in the face of one of the worst crimes against humanity. 
 
‘Astonishing. A powerful book.’ JEWISH NEWS 
 
'A truly extraordinary story.' JAMES O'BRIEN 
 
‘The remarkable but harrowing true story. Extraordinary.’ TIMES RADIO

Miracle

The Boys Who Escaped the Gas Chamber in Auschwitz

Jean Sasson

Mayada was born into a powerful Iraqi family. One grandfather fought alongside Lawrence of Arabia. The other is acclaimed as the first true Arab nationalist. Her uncle was Prime Minister for nearly forty years, her mother an important politician. When Saddam Hussein and his Ba'ath party seized power, and instituted his reign of terror, Mayada found herself alone in Baghdad, a divorced parent of two children, earning a meagre living printing brochures. Until one morning in August 1999 she was summarily arrested and dragged to the notorious Baladiyat Prison, falsely accused of printing anti-government propaganda. 
 
There she was thrown into a cell with 17 'shadow women'. Like latter-day Sherezades, these women passed their days, while waiting for the next interrogation and torture session, telling each other their stories. They were eager to hear Mayada's stories of her privileged former life, of the history of her proud family, of kings and queens, of meetings with Saddam himself. 
 
Not only the story of a woman intimately connected to Iraq's cultured, ancient history, this book is a powerful witness to the terror and horror wrought by Saddam on the lives and souls of its ordinary citizens.

Mayada: Daughter Of Iraq

Readers of Princess Sultana's extraordinary biography Princess were gripped by her powerful indictment of women's lives behind the veil within the royal family of Saudi Arabia. They were every bit as fascinated by the sequel, Daughters of Arabia. 
 
Here, the princess turns the spotlight on her two daughters, Maha and Amani, both teenagers. Surrounded by untold opulence and luxury from the day they were born, but stifled by the unbearably restrictive lifestyle imposed on them, they reacted in equally desperate ways. 
 
Their dramatic and shocking stories, together with many more which concern other members of Princess Sultana's huge family, are set against a rich backdrop of Saudi Arabian culture and social mores which she depicts with equal colour and authenticity. We learn, for example, of the fascinating ritual of the world-famous annual pilgrimage to Makkah as we accompany the princess and her family to this holiest of cities. Throughout, however, she never tires of her quest to expose the injustices which her society levels against women. In her courageous campaign to improve the lot of her own daughters of Arabia, Princess Sultana once more strikes a chord amongst all women who are lucky enough to have the freedom to speak out for themselves.

Daughters Of Arabia

Princess 2

In Princess, readers were shocked by Sultana's revelations about life in Saudi Arabia's royal family. Royal women live as virtual prisoners, surrounded by unimaginable wealth and luxury, privileged beyond belief, and yet subject to every whim of their husbands, fathers, and even their sons. Daughters of Arabia featured Sultana's teenage daughters, determined to rebel but in very different ways. 
 
And now, in Desert Royal, Sultana's fight for women's rights in a repressive, fundamentalist Islamic society, has an extra sense of urgency. The threat of world terrorism, the gathering strength of religious leaders and the discontent of impoverished Saudis are threatening to topple the comfortable world Sultana has known. But an extended family 'camping' trip in the desert brings Sultana and her relatives face to face with their nomadic roots, and nourishes her will to carry on the fight for women's rights in all Muslim countries. 
 
This updated edition contains an all-new chapter as well as a letter from Sultana herself, encouraging all women to take up the struggle for freedom for their abused sisters throughout the world.

Desert Royal

Princess 3

In the international bestseller, Princess: The True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia, Princess Al-Sa’ud and the acclaimed author Jean Sasson began a remarkable series of books. Now, more than twenty-five years later, this compelling journey continues as we follow the fortunes and the dazzling life of the Princess, her friends and her family. 
 
But, of course, there is a less glamorous, much darker side to this engaging series, and in Stepping Out of the Shadows Jean and the Princess focus their attention on how, despite positive news on civil rights reforms, Saudi women still suffer physical and psychological abuse and have little legal protection due to the archaic guardianship laws of the land. So, although this is a kingdom on the threshold of revolutionary change – change spearheaded by the young Saudi Crown Prince who is keen to modernize his country – any thoughts of equal rights and the chance to lead an independent life remain little more than dreams for most Saudi women. 
 
Whilst the Princess acknowledges and welcomes the reforms that are on the horizon, through stories of joy and sorrow, we see how she is determined to continue to fight for equal rights for women in this, her beloved kingdom.

Princess: Stepping Out Of The Shadows

After the recent success of Princess, More Tears to Cry the Princess Al-Saud and Jean Sasson are collaborating on this new book to bring readers up to date not only with the Princess and her family but the stories and experiences of characters who formed the focus of the last book: Dr Meena - the woman who helps abused women to heal and fight for their rights, and Fatima, the mother of twin daughters who, once abused and abandoned by her family, now works for the Princess in one of the royal palaces. 
 
Here too, are the stories of other Muslim women - women who are struggling with human rights abuses from across the region - from Pakistan, Syria and Northern Lebanon - and the many innocent victims who suffer the consequences of ISIS's march across the Middle East. 
 
This new book will attract both Jean Sasson's many loyal readers and new audiences eager to learn more about not only how the Saudi Royal family live, but how with courage and determination the Princess continues the fight for equal rights for women in the Middle East.

Princess: Secrets to Share

Estate of Harry Birrell

From the moment he received a cine-camera at age 10, Harry Birrell devoted his life to documenting the world around him, including his enlistment and his adventures serving in the Burma, Nepal and India. Not only did he capture the war as he saw it, but he kept copious diaries from 1939 to 1945 so that his family would know what he had experienced in the event of his death. These unique record of the campaign are compelling, insightful, funny, charming, moving - all in equal measure. 
 
As a soldier posted with the Gurkhas for most of the war, Harry Birrell worked as a surveyor, mapping out the country as the war with the Japanese ebbed and flowed around him. While this might seem like it was away from any action, the job of creating these references for the fighting part of the army was critical and required him to be at the front line in order that the troops and their commanders had the most up to date and accurate maps as the war evolved. As a result, he has an unusual insider overview of that brutal campaign as well as wonderful insight into the Gurkhas under his command.

To War with the Gurkhas: War Diaries

When Jean Sasson’s book Princess: Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia was published, it became an immediate international bestseller. It sold to 43 countries and spent 13 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. Now, in this long-awaited, compelling new book, Sasson and the Princess ‘Sultana’ return to tell the world what it means to be a Saudi woman today. 
 
Through advances in education and with access to work, Saudi women are breaking through the barriers; they are becoming doctors, social workers, business owners and are even managing to push at the boundaries of public life. Major steps forward have, undoubtedly, been made. 
 
But this is not the whole story. Sadly, despite changes in the law, all too often legal loopholes leave women exposed to terrible suppression, abuse and crimes of psychological and physical violence. 
For many, the struggle for basic human rights continues. 
 
This fascinating insight will include personal stories of triumph and heartbreak, as told to Princess 'Sultana', her eldest daughter, and author Jean Sasson. Each of these stories will offer the reader a glimpse into different aspects of Saudi society, including the lives of the Princess, her daughter and other members of the Al-Saud Royal family.

Princess More Tears to Cry

From the time she was a little girl, Maryam rebelled against the terrible second-class existence that was her destiny as an Afghan woman. 
 
She had witnessed the miserable fate of her grandmother and three aunts, and wished she had been born a boy. As a feisty teenager in Kabul, she was outraged when the Russians invaded her country. After she made a public show of defiance, she had to flee the country for her life. 
 
A new life of freedom seemed within her grasp,but her father arranged a traditional marriage to a fellow Afghan, who turned out to be a violent man. Beaten, raped and abused, Maryam found joy in the birth of a baby son. But then her brutal husband stole him away far beyond his mother's reach. For many long years she searched for her lost son, while civil war and Taliban oppression raged back home in Afghanistan. 
 
Set against a landscape littered with tragic tales of horrific suffering, Jean Sasson, author of Princess, chronicles the story of one resolute but tormented woman determined to achieve freedom and equality with men.

For the Love of a Son

One Afghan Woman's Quest for her Stolen Child

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