“Ruete could be the subject of a thrilling romance. As Romero explains, she was born in 1840 as Princess Sayyida. Following her father’s death, she participated in one brother’s unsuccessful coup to wrest the throne from another. She trysted with a German, fled to Germany, married her lover, bore three children and was soon widowed. Ruete … generates a peculiarly successful tension, enhanced by carefully recorded details of court life.”
— Publishers Weekly
“[Memoirs of an Arabian Princess] links African and Islamic cultures as seen through the eyes of an indigenous observer … an intriguing account of court life in an outpost of the Islamic empire in Africa.”
— Journal of World History