Yousra Imran

A perfect book covering a young Muslim woman’s difficult quest to find her identity especially while having a mega strict Egyptian dad who tells her that everything is "haram" a.k.a. forbidden.

I truly enjoyed reading each and every page of this book!

Having spent almost my entire childhood and teenage years in the Gulf, I am aware of the patriarchy system that exists and have heard about a few incidents or experiences. I have never been able to read an entire story spanning across the years.

As we read about Sara's journey from childhood to adulthood, we are actually reading the different experiences and challenges that every young Arab Muslim girl goes through. The constant religious and social pressures are widely know and criticized but rarely defied. The inclusion of the stories of Sara's mother and her sister also highlight other important issues.

I loved the author's dedication at the beginning of the book. I truly believe Yousra Imran is a perfect inspiration for all the Arab women, her courage and determination is amazing!

This is one story which should be read and shared by all.

Thank You to NetGalley and Hashtag Press for this ARC!… (meer)

Trigger warnings ---> sexual assault, rape, physical abuse.

This book was an eye-opener for me. I knew through media how many of these Gulf countries treated their women, but I have never read anything more in-depth and to my Western upbringing, horrifying.

I learned much but I still had issues. I realized that this was a semi-biography (the author explains this). My main issues were due to my Western upbringing and the fact that I'm in my 60's - one was the teenage rebellion, and the other was that the author never tells us what Gulf State she was writing about. The rebellion I can understand a bit since this was a half British teenager, so the Gulf States customs and rules are more difficult to deal with.

Right now this book can only be found in the UK (I think-since I cannot find it on Amazon US), I sure do hope to find it in the USA very soon. This was very much worth the read.

*ARC supplied by the publisher and the author.… (meer)