By Helle Amin

As I approached the house, I was gripped with terror. Call it a mother’s instinct, call it what you will. I knew that something terrible had happened. When I saw that my husband’s car had gone, I feared the worst. I raced into the house and tore through all the bedrooms screaming, sobbing and desperate. I wanted my children so badly. Where were they? Why would he take them? I knew I had to get them back, but how?

Helle Amin seemed to have the perfect life on the tropical island of Bali with her husband and four children. But one day in 2002 this idyllic existence was shattered when she returned home from a shopping trip to find her children gone. It didn’t take long to discover that her Saudi Arabian husband had taken them to live in his home country.With her children thousands of miles away in the totally unfamiliar surroundings of an Islamic state, Helle drew upon her remarkable courage.

Enlisting the help of her friends, she set off for the desert in a desperate attempt to find her beloved boys. Her journey was filled with drama, danger, excitement and sorrow. In the astonishing struggle that followed, Helle was reduced to catching occasional glimpses of her boys as they went to and from school in Jeddah. Some women might have given up, but not Helle. In a male-dominated society, she prepared her case and demanded justice in the Saudi courts.After a long battle, Helle and her boys were reunited forever, and as a testament to her bravery she was a recent Tesco Mum of the Year winner. This gripping story cannot fail to touch any reader’s heart and is packed with adventure, heartache and joy.