NOTE TO THE READER

It is important to remember not to discount the experience of a woman if it is not an experience of your own.

I have drawn on my own life experiences and the experiences of other Arabs who were born and brought up in the West and moved to the Middle East as teenagers when writing this novel.

This is the story of one British Arab woman’s journey to finding herself while living in a patriarchal society where men—and sometimes women—mix their culture with religion in order to wrongfully control girls and women.

A glossary of Arabic words and phrases is available in alphabetical order at the end of this book.

This book contains some sensitive topics which readers under the age of sixteen may find distressing, including discussions of rape, coercive behaviour, self-harm, domestic abuse and sexual abuse.