The Girl Who Beat Isis: Farida's Story - Hardcover

Khalaf, Farida

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1910931012 ISBN 13: 9781910931011

Publisher: Square Peg, 2016

Synopsis

In August 2014, Farida Khalaf was just a normal Yazidi girl, living in a village high in the mountains of northern Iraq. Then her village was attacked and swiftly taken by ISIS fighters, and her whole world changed. The jihadists murdered the men and the boys of her village, including her father and brothers, before taking Farida prisoner along with the rest of the women.

This is the story of what happened to Farida after she was captured: the beatings, the rapes, the markets where ISIS sold their female prisoners like cattle, and Farida's realisation that the more difficult and resistant she became, the harder it was for her captors to continue their atrocities against her. So she struggled, she bit, she kicked, she accused her captors of going against their religion, and then, one day, the door to her room was left unlocked. She took her chance along with 5 other women, and set out across the Syrian desert ...

This is a story of incredible courage in the face of unthinkable atrocity. As the battle against ISIS continues to ravage the Middle East, The Girl Who Beat Isis provides an astonishing perspective on this very terrifying global threat.

About this title

About the Author:

Farida and her brothers were brought up in the Yazidi community in Kocho, Iraq. Farida was 19 years old when ISIS attacked her village, killed the men, captured the women and sold them into slavery. After four months, Farida and her best friend managed to escape against all odds. Farida was reunited with her mother and her brothers in an Iraqi refugee camp and was granted asylum in Germany in 2015.

Review:

"Shattering, brave, angering account" * The Bookseller * "`How much can a single person endure? Traumatised, uprooted, abused - Farida continues to deal with the consequences of ISIS. Nevertheless, this memoir is full of hope. She is a very strong individual, she has the heart of a lioness. An amazing story that encourages us never to keep quiet or to give in'" -- Frank Heinrich, German Parliamentary Speaker on Human Rights "`Farida tells her story courageously and bravely as she describes how she resisted attempts to convert, marry and rape her, for so long in some cases that the ISIS henchmen actually left her alone'" * Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung * "`Farida shows the good and bad sides of religion... She criticises aspects of her own upbringing like certain religious taboos - such nuance is impressive'" * HEUTE.de * "`Her story highlights atrocities, but it is also a moving account of how friendship, love and the will to survive are mightier than any barbarism'" * Anzeiger *

About this edition

• Publisher: Square Peg
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1910931012
• ISBN 13: 9781910931011
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224