Desert Governess

by Phyllis Ellis

Recently widowed, Phyllis Ellis answers an advertisement requiring a governess in Saudi Arabia for two nieces and a nephew of the King. In a few days she is on her way, and suddenly her life is... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1903070015
• ISBN13: 9781903070017
• Release Date: February 2004
• Publisher: Eye Books
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

I just love this book - couldn't put it down.

Excellent book, great read and really puts you inside the palace. Thanks for writing this!

Desert Governess

Recently widowed Phyllis Ellis answered an advertisement for an English Governess for a Saudi Prince and two Princesses. She found herself a near-prisoner in a luxurious Marble Palace. Phyllis Ellis describes her life among women, vivid as butterflies in their own quarters, who turn into anonymous black crows when they venture out. She, too, had to be masked and shrouded from head to toe when she left the Palace grounds. Her description of life behind the veil is so vivid I had to leave the book and go outside ankles uncovered and barefaced - just to prove to myself that I could. Leaving the Palace for any reason was difficult. Permission had to be given and a driver and chaperone found. Even finding a stamp for a letter home was an ordeal. For this, too, women are dependent on men - yet another means of control. Guardians of the strict moral and religious rules are on patrol and failure to keep the rules is severely punished. An unmasked moment could be dangerous. Inside the Palace the days passed slowly. There was a great deal of near-ritual sitting around. Phyllis knew that her every move was watched. This intensely private society seems not to allow for personal privacy. Within the tight framework of restrictions this is also a book full of colour and life. The pages buzz with excitement at the wedding of a Saudi Princess. The women go to great lengths to beautify themselves with coiffures, jewels and designer clothes. They dance the night away. Men only appear at the end of the evening when they come with the groom to collect his bride. Where there is complete segregation of the sexes and everything is forbidden, the slightest encounter becomes erotic ... and dangerous. Phyllis Ellis has written a book full of compassion for the women she met, and affection for the family who employed her. She makes no judgements about the world she found herself in. The facts are so strange to us that comment is unnecessary. Phyllis Ellis was an alien in a world of ritual and routine - a place where there is no room for doubt. Her courage and humanity stood her in good stead. The narrative, full of fascinating insights, bowls along. You do have to keep reading.