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Title details for Defiant Dreams by Sola Mahfouz - Available

Defiant Dreams

The Journey of an Afghan Girl Who Risked Everything for Education

by Sola Mahfouz
Malaina Kapoor
Audiobook
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A searing, deeply personal memoir of a tenacious Afghan girl who educated herself behind closed doors and fought her way to a new life.
 
“Stories like this inspire me. Seeing the way people like Sola Mahfouz think about the world reinforces my optimism about the future.”―BILL GATES
Sola Mahfouz was born in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 1996, the year the Taliban took over her country for the first time. They banned television and photographs, presided over brutal public executions, and turned the clock backward on women’s rights, practically imprisoning women within their own homes and forcing them to wear all-concealing burqas. At age eleven, Sola was forced to stop attending school after a group of men threatened to throw acid in her face if she continued. After that she was confined to her home, required to cook and clean and prepare for an arranged marriage. She saw the outside world only a handful of times each year.
As time passed, Sola began to understand that she was condemned to the same existence as millions of women in Afghanistan. Her future was empty. The rest of her life would be controlled entirely by men: fathers and husbands and sons who would never allow her to study, to earn money, or even to dream.
Driven by this devastating realization, Sola began a years-long fight to change the trajectory of her life, deciding that education would be her way out. At age sixteen, without even the basic ability to add or subtract, she began to teach herself math and English in secret. She progressed rapidly., Within just two years she was already studying subjects such as philosophy and physics. Faced with obstacles at every turn, Sola still managed to sneak into Pakistan to take the SAT. In 2016, she escaped to the United States, where she is now a quantum-computing researcher at Tufts University.
An engrossing, dramatic memoir, co-written with young Indian American human rights activist Malaina Kapoor, Defiant Dreams is the story of one girl, but it’s also the untold story of a generation of women brimming with potential and longing for freedom.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    June 6, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593739914
      • File size: 259334 KB
      • Duration: 09:00:16

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from June 10, 2024

      Ariana Delawari's passionate reading of Afghan quantum computing researcher Mahfouz's debut memoir about growing up under the Taliban regime perfectly captures the author's suffering, heartbreak, and triumph, ensuring this timely and inspiring memoir will echo in listeners' minds long after the final words are spoken. Mahfouz, using a pseudonym for protection, and co-author Kapoor depict Afghanistan's recent turmoil through the eyes of Mahfouz's family, humanizing the incessant political instability. Though forbidden to attend school, Mahfouz was determined to acquire an education, following in the footsteps of her grandparents and parents, who also had to sacrifice for their education. As Delawari recounts Mahfouz's self-directed science, literature, and mathematics schooling, obtained with the help of the free educational platform Khan Academy (accessing it in the middle of the night when her dial-up connection was speedier), listeners will marvel at her incredible determination while simultaneously shaking with rage at the needless suffering endured by the Afghan people. VERDICT This genuinely transformative memoir from a woman who survived the Taliban regime and is now working as a computer scientist in the U.S. vividly demonstrates the power of education, especially for women. Young adults, college students, and listeners wanting to learn more about Afghanistan should find this unforgettable.--Beth Farrell

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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