Author:Jacqueline Pascarl
In Once I Was a Princess, Jacqueline Pascarl related the gripping story of her abusive childhood and her subsequent teen marriage to a prince. What should have been a fairy tale with a happy ending deteriorated into a nightmare of deceit and betrayal - ending in the kidnapping of her two small children by her former husband, who spirited them back to Malaysia.
In Since I Was a Princess, Pascarl peels back the layers of her life after the abduction. She tells how she channelled her grief, forging an existence as an aid worker and humanitarian ambassador in war-torn countries and working with refugees and the dispossessed. She describes how she persuaded some of the world's most influential figures to support her aid work and became a human rights activist on the international stage, championing the cause of other parents whose children had been kidnapped and reuniting scores of families.
Pascarl also explains how she lived frenetically as she painfully rebuilt her life and re-evaluated her relationships, grappling with the emotional complexities of a new pregnancy and beginning a second family. And she reveals for the first time the dramatic details of how, at last, she was able to be reunited with her long-lost children and make her family whole.
Candid and compelling, Since I Was a Princess is an unforgettable ride through tragedy, loss and, finally, triumph.
A genuinely moving, extraordinary story that is consequently a cut above most other misery memoirs
—— The BooksellerMiracles are her business
—— Jodie FosterShe achieves what, to hard-pressed parents, seem like miracles
—— Mail on SundayWith style and wit Jean Carper has assembled all the simple things that people can do to delay the onset of age-related memory loss, an idea that may sound revolutionary to some, but is all research-based. My advice is simple: Read this book!
—— Norman E. Rosenthal, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Georgetown Medical SchoolFantastic... a darkly witty guide through the birthing hut
—— New York MagazineTired all the time? Fed up arguing about chores? Spousonomics says applying some economic rules will transform your relationship...according to the authors, [using] economic theories can be a powerful tool to making your marriage successful.
—— Daily MailA brilliant and innovative book.
—— A. J. Jacobs, author of The Know-it-AllPractical, compelling and hilarious
—— Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness ProjectFrank, funny, insightful and disconcertingly apt, this book transposes the laws and theories of economics onto emotional relationships with daring but effective aplomb.
—— Easy Living MagazineJane Shilling is an excellent writer...this is detailed, personal and memorable
—— William Leith , Evening StandardThe essay form, with its drifts and lurches, suits Shilling's purposes perfectly as she catalogues her experience of middle-ages confusion and loss... all with detail, nuance, enthusiasm and care
—— Ian Sansom , GuardianThe usual stereotypes about grumpy old women are jettisoned in favour of ironic and nuanced observations about sexuality, identity and death in this crisply written memoir about middle age
—— Benjamin Evans , Daily TelegraphAn honest midlife memoir of ageing, false expectations and unrealised dreams
—— Michael Binyon , The TimesDetailed, personable and memorable
—— William Leith , ScotsmanHer story may not be unusual, but the elegance and range of her writing most certainly is. The journey is a delight
—— Daily TelegraphFans of this beautifully crafted, critically acclaimed memoir of middle-age might well take the view that it should be distributed free on the NHS to all women over 50... a penetrating analysis of the challenges and heartaches of life's middle phase
—— Katherine Whitbourn , Daily MailShilling casts a self-critical eye over the events that have shaped her life
—— Emma Hagestadt , Independent