Dancing in the Mosque

A People Book of the Week & a Kirkus Best Nonfiction of the Year

An exquisite and inspiring memoir about one mother’s unimaginable choice in the face of oppression and abuse in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

In the days before Homeira Qaderi gave
birth to her son, Siawash, the road to the hospital in Kabul would often be
barricaded because of the frequent suicide explosions. With the city and the military on
edge, it was not uncommon for an armed soldier to point his gun at the pregnant woman’s
bulging stomach, terrified that she was hiding a bomb. Frightened and in
pain, she was once forced
to make her way on foot. Propelled by the love she held for her soon-to-be-born
child, Homeira walked through blood and wreckage to reach the hospital doors.
But the joy of her beautiful son’s birth was soon overshadowed by other dangers
that would threaten her life.
No ordinary Afghan woman, Homeira refused
to cower under the strictures of a misogynistic social order. Defying the law,
she risked her freedom to teach children reading and writing and fought for
women’s rights in her theocratic and patriarchal society.
Devastating in its power, Dancing in the Mosque is a mother’s searing letter to a son she was forced to leave behind. In telling her story—and that of Afghan women—Homeira challenges you to reconsider the meaning of motherhood, sacrifice, and survival. Her story asks you to consider the lengths you would go to protect yourself, your family, and your dignity.