The Dictator’s Wife

A young Hollywood native finds herself ensnared in a treacherous web of power and deception when she becomes the unexpected bride of a ruthless Middle East dictator.

With a childhood defined by the palm trees of Beverly Hills and the mysterious confines of Mulholland Drive, all Anna Paradis wants is to make sense of a haunting vision and an unencumbered life serving others. But when she falls in love with the second son of a Middle Eastern dictator, her fabled existence is thrown into disarray after she unexpectedly ascends to become the next Dictator’s Wife and is forced to step into an unfamiliar fray.

At the same time, Anna makes a chilling discovery about her upbringing: a discovery that threatens to unravel that entire iron-fisted empire and could cost her life in the pursuit of answers and accountability. Caught in the crossfire of death and destruction - and becoming the target of global condemnation herself - Anna is forced to grapple with her fallibility as a government figurehead and navigate the complex web of who can and cannot be trusted in and out of her gilded Palace bubble. As the painful secrets of her past and the ramifications of an entire life fighting a psychological war come to light, the First Lady remains bitterly determined to record her version of events before it is too late.

HOLLIE S. MCKAY is an investigative and international affairs/war journalist with over fourteen years of specialized focus on warfare, terrorism, and crimes against humanity.

Hollie has worked on the frontlines of several major war zones and covered humanitarian and diplomatic crises in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Burma, Russia, Africa, Latin America, and other areas.

Her globally-spanned coverage, in the form of thousands of print articles and essays, has included exclusive and detailed interviews with numerous captured terrorists, as well as high-ranking government, military, and intelligence officials and leaders from all sides.

She has spent considerable time embedded with US and foreign troops, conducted extensive interviews with survivors of torture, sex slavery and forced child jihadist training, refugees, and internally-displaced people to communicate the complexities of such catastrophes and war crimes on local populations.

Hollie’s columns have been featured in the Wall Street Journal and her writings referenced in innumerable mainstream publications and academic journals. Additionally, she has won numerous foreign press and humanitarian awards.