Shaida Mehrban

Petal Afrid is a young woman in her twenties, the mother of twin baby girls and the wife of a loving husband, Sami. Yet as Petal recounts the story of her own childhood, we see how deeply she was affected by her own mother, who abused her eldest daughter physically, verbally and emotionally as punishment for trivial or imagined misbehaviour, locking her all night in the larder if she dared to stand up for herself. When Petal`s kind and loving father is driven away from his home by his wife`s bullying and the favouritism shown to Petal`s brother, Petal is left to fend for herself and to try to look after her younger sister until she can find a way out of her mother`s flat and make a life for herself.

Дата выхода: январь 2010

Sania Craven is a normal thirteen-year-old girl. She does well at school, plays football with her classmates and lives in a happy home with two loving parents. She has no cares, no worries. However, this all changes the day her father dies. To cope with the death of her English husband, Sania`s mother takes her on a journey back to India, the land of her birth, to reunite with her family. What Sania doesn`t know is that this is no holiday, but possibly her new home for the rest of her life. Sania becomes embroiled in a world of culture clashes, prejudice and forced marriages; a world where sexual abuse and the subordination of women is commonplace and unquestioned. When her mother remarries and Sania too is forced into a marriage, she...

`My life was like running a hurdle race - every so often I had to jump over an obstacle.` This is the story of Kaashi`s journey from her early childhood in Pakistan to married adult life in Britain. It is a story of courage and determination in a world dominated by men. Kaashi is an ordinary Pakistani woman, one of many who suffer all kinds of abuse within their own family setting. The disgrace and shame prevent them from exposing the culprits. Accompany Kaashi as she shares with us the heartache and frustration. What is the future for women like her? Does she manage to keep her family together and teach her children the right to equality? Or will they shed tears of silence just as she has?

Дата выхода: январь 2006