- 210 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About This Book
"I felt connected to the street girls, as if our silent smiles spoke a thousand words between us."
Sometimes painful and at other times shocking, the stories in On the Edge of Being are still hopeful. The world that Afghan women inhabit in this memoir illuminates the split between body and voice — a split that has wrought a devastating impact on the women of Afghanistan.
The daughter of a progressive Afghan governor, Sharifa Sharif observes from an early age that life for women — both within and beyond the walls of their homes — is neither simple nor fair. As she navigates the rocky terrain of what it means to be a woman in Afghan society, Sharif candidly connects her own troubling experiences with those of girls and women around her: those who appeal to her father for justice, those who work as servants in her friends' homes, and those of her own mother, whose inability to alter the restrictions in her own life evokes both anger and empathy.
From her childhood travels through the poorest provinces in Afghanistan to life as a schoolteacher and an immigrant student in North America, Sharifa strives to define her identity through her experiences of marginality — and learns to reclaim her body and herself.
First published in 2011, On the Edge of Being is more pertinent than ever as girls in Afghanistan continue to survive against all odds. In her new prologue, Sharifa reminds her readers that the people of Afghanistan are paying the price — no matter which government, ideology, or side is at fault.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Introduction to the New Edition
- Prologue
- The Rainbow of Self
- A Girl Is Born
- Marriage on Trial
- Punishing Laughter
- New Laws, Old Beliefs
- Zulaikha
- Gem of the Valley
- Womanhood and Guilt
- Pieces of Love
- Jamila in Blossom
- Aday
- Frozen Memories, Frozen Times
- Foreign Student, Foreign Land
- The Aftermath
- At the Mercy of Refuge
- Embracing Marginality
- Stoning Innocence
- Defying the Cover
- Exile
- The Governor
- The Governor’s Wife, My Mother
- Afterword
- Glossary
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author