I, Nadia, Wife of a Terrorist

This first-person account of a young woman's seduction by Islamist extremism also offers an intimate look at the Algerian civil war. Journalist Gacemi interviewed "Nadia" (a pseudonym) in 1997 in Algiers, where she came seeking help at an organization for needy women. As a teenager in a poor village, Nadia fell in love with Ahmed, a charismatic hoodlum. Her persistence in sneaking out to meet him made her parents send her away to live with her uncles. Two years later, when her father finally accepted Ahmed's marriage offer, Nadia returned home expecting her dreams to be realized. Since she'd last seen him, however, Ahmed had joined the Armed Islamist Group, or GIA—a terrorist group then at the height of its power in the town. Nadia's dream became a nightmare, as she found herself cook and slave to her husband's "brothers." Yet the status of being the wife of a terrorist leader was addictive, and she accepted enough of what Ahmed told her about the GIA's political vision that she even believed the beatings she received from him were legitimate. Gacemi's book received a lot of attention in France. Since Americans are less knowledgeable about Algeria, it will probably get less here—which is unfortunate, since her account of how a whole community can be seduced by terrorists is frightening and invaluable. (June)