The Tyrant's Daughter

J.C. Carleson’s young adult contemporary novel The Tyrant’s Daughter (2014) follows a young girl who moves to the American suburbs after her father is killed during a coup in the Middle East. Receiving widespread praise upon publication for its authentic characterization and suspenseful plot, the received award nominations. Before writing novels, Carleson worked in the clandestine service of the CIA for ten years. Her books are filled with espionage, unique experiences, and realistic portrayals of government operations. The Tyrant’s Daughter is Carleson’s first young adult novel.

Fifteen-year-old Laila has just moved to the United States from her home country in the war-torn Middle East. Her country of origin is never specified. She wants to forget about the Middle East and to find a new life for herself and her family in America.

In the Middle East, Laila’s father had been a ruthless dictator. Assassinated during an uprising, his supporters expect Laila’s brother, Bastien, to take his place. Laila’s brother, however, moves to America with Laila and her mother. He is too young to consider stepping into such a position even if he wanted to, which he doesn’t.



Laila’s mother, however, has other ideas. She’s determined for her son to get back to the Middle East and avenge his father. She wants to go home with him and see him placed into power. However, she knows that it’s not safe for any of them to return home yet. Laila’s father would want them to be safe.

Laila is worried constantly about returning to the Middle East. Ultimately, she knows that her mother will make her go home. When she first arrives in America, Laila is reluctant to assimilate or make friends, worrying that she will make friends only to have to leave them again. She also knows that she can’t talk about her father or her old life. Her mother has warned her to never speak of life back home because this might jeopardize the family’s political ambitions.

Meanwhile, Laila and Bastien must integrate into this new world. Trying to see the bright side of everything, Bastien adjusts well to his American life. Given he is a young boy, he still doesn’t know how he feels about his father’s death. All he knows is that he loved his father and misses him, and he doesn’t think murder is ever justified.



To make ends meet, Laila’s mother starts working with the CIA. She hosts dinner parties for other refugees in order to extract information from them. She then sells this information to the CIA, who ensures that Laila’s family always has a home and food on the table. Laila doesn’t approve of what her mother is doing, because many of the families she brings into their home disliked her father. However, Laila knows that it is unavoidable for now.

In America, Laila experiences freedom she has never known before. Gone are the rigid traditions and rules she followed in the Middle East; instead, she can enjoy being a teenager. She wears less modest clothes, talks to boys, and even arranges to go to prom with her new friend, Emmy, and Amir, a boy from her own country.

The more time Laila spends with American teenagers and people who didn’t like her father, the more she learns about how tyrannical her father really was. Although she always knew that he wasn’t popular and that he ruled his country very strictly, she didn’t realize how evil he was until she hears stories from other people—people who only now feel safe enough to talk without fear of reprisals.



Laila wonders how her mother can possibly justify wanting them all to return home to pick up where her father left off. She discovers that her uncle is ruling the country now and that he is far more popular than her father was. He led the resistance, and he is directly responsible for her father’s death. Laila is torn between hating her uncle and wondering if this act of desperation was justified.

Laila’s friends at school admit they know who her father was and the crimes he committed against his people. Laila is devastated because she doesn’t want people to think that she is anything like her father. Her true friends, however, stand by her, because they see her for who she is.

Much of The Tyrant’s Daughter is occupied with a teenage girl’s struggle to adapt to a change in culture and circumstances, and what it’s like to mourn someone who is evil. Although they return to their home country at the end, Laila is a changed girl, and so is her mother.



Bastien takes over from his uncle, thanks to support from the CIA. He is charged with bringing peace and stability to the region under the watchful eye of his mother. The CIA will help control the people in the meantime. Laila is determined to ensure that no tyrant ever rules their country again. Her time in America has shaped her political and moral outlook, and she will never let her brother rule like a monster.