The island of Zanzibar, captured by the Omani Sultan Seyid Said, experienced a boom in the 19th century. Almost forty princes and princesses grew up in several palaces of the Sultan, surrounded by numerous servants. The daughter of the Sultan, Salama bint Said, talks in this book about her joyful childhood and how, after the death of her father, she, having survived a series of palace coups, married a German businessman and converted to Christianity under the name of Emilia Ruete. The princess surprisingly accurately recreates the system of relations in harem, sets out his views on the position of an Eastern woman, explains all the subtleties of Eastern etiquette.