Author's Preface Summary and Analysis

Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi is an engrossing, dramatized non-fiction work about the life of Firdaus, an Egyptian woman sentenced to death for killing a man. After suffering greatly at the hands of men through her entire life, Firdaus becomes a prostitute, but she is imprisoned for killing a pimp who beats and rapes her. Woman at Point Zero is a heart wrenching tale that readers will find hard to put down.

Nawal El Saadawi writes this novel after an encounter with a woman in the Qanatir Prison. In 1972, Saadawi is removed as Director of Health Education and Editor-in-Chief of "Health" magazine as a result of her feminist views, which are viewed unfavorably by the authorities. This gives her more time to think, write and research. A new stage of her life evolves in 1973 and sees...