The Girl from Baghdad

The true story of a woman torn between two worlds.

The true story of a woman torn between two worlds.

Michelle Nouri was born in Prague but grew up in vibrant pre-war Baghdad. Her privileged Iraqi childhood was like a fable; full of sun and games with her sisters and cousins in the crowded house of Bibi, matriarch of the powerful Nouri family. As a young girl, Michelle didn’t fully understand the tensions between East and West that existed in her upbringing - Muslim ceremonies, Christian friends, Communist restrictions, private ballet classes and overseas trips. Her adolescence complicated things as family tradition dictated she should marry a cousin. She resisted - and instead found herself flirting with Uday Hussein, Saddam’s eldest son. He invited her into a seductive world of tennis matches and moonlit concerts.

But then, without warning, her privileged world imploded. The idyllic city of her childhood was devastated by war, and her father deserted his family to take a second wife. Michelle, her mother and sisters were abandoned and left impoverished.

In desperation, they fled to Czechoslovakia, and embarked on a painful and emotional journey between cultures - Arabic, Communist and Western.