Saada Arbane has lived without a voice since her throat was slit during the Algerian civil war. But now, the 31-year-old woman has vowed to make herself heard after she said a best-selling novel plagiarised her life.

Kamel Daoud's novel "Houris" -- banned in Algeria and awarded France's top literary prize Prix Goncourt last year -- tells the story of a child who loses her voice when an Islamist cuts her throat during the 1990s war.

Last November, Arbane took the literary world by storm when she announced on Algerian television, using a speech aid, that the novel's main character was based on her experiences without her consent.

She said the book's details were too similar to the personal stories she had narrated during years of treatment with her psychotherapist, Aicha Dahdouh -- who is Daoud's wife.

Daoud, 54, has denied his novel is based on Arbane's life, but the woman who is suing him both in France and Algeria has........

© Al Monitor