The Girl Who Beat ISIS

Oct 20, 2024 4:12 PM

Author:Farida Khalaf,Andrea C. Hoffmann,Jamie Bulloch,Lara Sawalha

In August 2014, Farida, like any ordinary teenage girl, was enjoying the summer holidays before her last year at school. But Farida lived in the mountains of northern Iraq — and what happened next was unimaginable. Her village was an ISIS target.

ISIS jihadists murdered the men and boys, including her father and brother, before taking Farida and the other women prisoner. This is the story of what happened to Farida after she was captured: the beatings, the rapes, the markets where ISIS sold women like cattle, and Farida's realisation that the more 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, until, one day, the door to her room was left unlocked. She took her chance and, with five younger girls in her charge, fled into the Syrian desert.

Farida showed incredible courage in the face of the unthinkable, and now with The Girl Who Beat ISIS she bravely relives her story to bear witness. Searing and immediate, this is the first memoir by a young woman that shows first-hand what life is like for innocents caught up in the maelstrom of day-to-day life with ISIS.

Reviews

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

A stunning, heart wrenching narrative... Everyone should read this in order to get to the heart of the tragedy of the Arab world and the distortion of Islam being perpetrated by ISIS. Beautifully written in the voice of a teenage girl, this book gives more of an understanding of what is happening than political treatises.

—— Ahmed Rashid

This powerful testimoney is ... as gripping as it is appalling

—— Guardian

A compelling testament to the suffering of ordinary people caught up in violence far beyond their control – and to the particularly terrible price it exacts from women.

—— Rachel Aspden , Guardian

Starkly horrifying memoir.

—— Andrew Lynch , Sunday Business Post

Farida Khalaf won her small but significant battle. Its happy ending notwithstanding, it's difficult to focus on positivity – but then, perhaps that's why this remains a vital read.

—— Hot Press

A gut-wrenching and relentless experience...Farida's story needs to be told.

—— Catherine Philip , The Times

A powerful description of a world ripped apart... Farida tells a story that is testament to how toxic violence can be born of religion.

—— New Statesman

This is a mesmerising study of human cruelty and a brave depiction of the monsters that arise when reason sleeps.

—— Oliver Thring , Sunday Times

It’s a shattering, brave, enraging book but also a stirring story of survival.

—— Sunday Express

An unflinching account… This is one of those rare volumes that offers astonishing insights into the human spirit… A catalogue of horror is made bearable only by her extraordinary courage.

—— Joan Smith , Observer

Although a harrowing story it is also an uplifting one as it is truly a triumph of the human spirit over terror.

—— Frank McGabhann , Irish Times

This is a brave, harrowing but necessary book.

—— Colette Sheridan , Irish Examiner

So shocking you will read it in one sitting.

—— RTE

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