The Ordeal: My Ten Years in a Malaysian Prison

At Penang Airport in 1980, Malaysian customs officers found five kilos of heroin hidden in the suitcase of a 20-year-old French woman of fortune. The brand-new suitcase had been a gift from her Chinese lover, who, unknown to her, was dealing drugs. He was not to be found and Saubin became the first Westerner to be sentenced under Malaysian drug laws to death by hanging. On appeal, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and over the next 10 years, Saubin's lawyers and grandmother worked to draw international attention to her case and, eventually, to win her release. Meanwhile, Saubin's daily companions became the criminals, prostitutes and druggies who populated the jail; she learned to trade sex for safety, developed complex erotic relationships, did hard labor, taught herself several Asian languages and conducted an aerobics class. Though filled with the stuff of high drama and colorful characters, Saubin's account of her ordeal is curiously flat and uninvolving. (Aug.)