Letters to My Daughters

In the vein of Infidel comes this spellbinding memoir of survival and courage from Afghanistan’s most popular female politician.

On the day Fawzia Koofi was born, her mother set her under the blazing Afghan sun to die. She was the nineteenth child of twenty-three in a family with seven wives, and her mother did not want another daughter. Despite severe burns that lasted into her teenage years, Fawzia survived and became the favourite child.

In Letters to My Daughters, Fawzia tells her remarkable life story. Fawzia’s father was an incorruptible politician strongly attached to Afghan tradition. When he was murdered by the mujahedeen, Fawzia’s illiterate mother decided to send the ten-year-old girl to school, and as the civil war raged, Fawzia dodged bullets and snipers to attend class, determined to be the first person in her family to receive an education.

She went on to marry a man she loved, and they had two cherished daughters, Shohra and Shaharzad. Tragically, the arrival of the Taliban spelled an end to her freedom. Outraged and deeply saddened by the injustice she saw around her, and by the tainting of her Islamic faith, Fawzia discovered politics herself.