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Buzz grows for king of Jordan book

01.01.70 | Katie Allen

Headline-grabbing revelations about “secret, high-level negotiations that could soon transform our map of the Middle East” are promised in the heavily-embargoed personal memoir of King Abdullah II of Jordan, for which Penguin Press has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights.

Our Best Chance: The Pursuit of Peace in a Time of Peril will be published in May 2010 as an Allen Lane hardback, simultaneously with the Viking edition in the US, and the Arabic publication by Dar El Shorouk.

King Abdullah II, who trained at Sandhurst as a young man, was major general and commander of the special forces in the Jordanian army before ascending to the throne in 1999. Over the past decade Jordan has been at the centre of strategic discussions about Israel and Palestine, Iraq, Iran and terrorism, with US president Barack Obama inviting King Abdullah to be the first Arab leader to meet at the White House during his administration.

Penguin Press editorial director William Goodlad said the king had a “unique perspective. Having grown up outside the line of succession, been educated in the US, served in the British Army and commanded Jordan’s special forces, he understands the realities of power better than anyone,” he said. Translation rights have sold in France (Editions Odile Jacob), Germany (DVA), Italy (Mondadori), Netherlands (De Bezige Bij), Norway (Versal), 
Portugal (Livraria Civilização), Spain (RH Mondadori) and 
Sweden (Bonnier).

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