Hannah Lucinda Smith

A poignant and inspiring memoir by Afghanistan's youngest female mayor and devoted human rights activist. As featured in the NETFLIX documentary IN HER HANDS.

Lannistumaton naisten oikeuksien puolustajaZarifa Ghafarin tarina kertoo afgaaninaisen rohkeasta taistelusta, jota hän on käynyt henkensä kaupalla ihmisoikeuksien puolesta ääri-islamisteja vastaan. Zarifa Ghafarista tuli pormestari konservatiiviseen Wardakin maakuntaan Afganistaniin vuonna 2018. Hän oli 24-vuotiaana maan nuorin pormestari ja ensimmäinen nainen kyseisessä tehtävässä. Ensimmäinen päivä uudessa virassa ei ollut helppo: kaupungintalon edessä häntä oli vastassa vihainen ihmisjoukko, ja hänen päästyään sisään miespuoliset kollegat marssivat ulos. Ghafari ei kuitenkaan luovuttanut, ei vaikka hänet yritettiin tappaa kolmesti. Hän lopetti maakunnassa vallinneen korruption ja yritti nostaa naisten asemaa huolimatta kaikesta uhkailusta, joka lopulta johti hänen isänsä murhaan. Mutta kun talibanit nousivat uudelleen valtaan vuonna 2021, Ghafari tiesi olevansa heidän mustalla listallaan, ja hänen oli paettava. Zarifa on ainutlaatuinen ja rehellinen muistelmateos, joka luo kokonaiskuvaa Afganistanin kahdesta viimeisestä vuosikymmenestä. Ghafari kertoo tekemästään työstä ja naisista, joita hän edelleen yrittää auttaa Talibanien hallitsemassa maassa, ja omasta visiostaan siitä, kuinka ruohonjuuritason aktivismi voi muuttaa naisten elämää kaikkialla maailmassa.

'Zarifa will break your heart' Christina Lamb, author of Our Bodies, Their Battlefields and I Am MalalaZarifa Ghafari was two years old when the Taliban banned girls from schools, and she began her education in secret. She was seven when American airstrikes began. She was twenty-four when she became the youngest and one of the first female mayors of Maidan Wardak, Kabul. An extremist mob barred her from her office; her male staff walked out in protest; assassins tried to kill her six times. Through it all, Zarifa stood her ground. She ended corruption in the province, promoted peace, and tried to lift up women, despite constant fear for herself and her family. When the Taliban took Kabul in 2021, Ghafari had to flee. But even that couldn't stop her. Six months later, she returned, to continue her work empowering women. Zarifa is an astonishing memoir that offers an unparalleled perspective of the last two decades in Afghanistan from a citizen, daughter, woman and mayor. Written with honesty, pain, and ultimately, hope, Zarifa describes the work she did, the women she still tries to help as they live under Taliban rule, and her vision for how grassroots activism can change their lives and the lives of women everywhere.

‘Essential reading for anyone interested in Turkey and its future’ Literary Review ‘Essential reading full stop’ Peter Frankopan ‘It is a must’ The Times Who is Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and how did he lead a democracy on the fringe of Europe into dictatorship? How has chaos in the Middle East blown back over Turkey’s borders? And why doesn’t the West just cut off Erdogan and his regime? Offering extraordinary, eye-opening insight into a country that often hides its cards, Hannah Lucinda Smith combines a history of modern Turkey with close-up studies of its mercurial leader, its tumultuous politics and the broader political currents playing across Europe.

'Essential reading for anyone interested in Turkey and its future.' Literary Review 'Essential reading full stop.' Peter Frankopan 'It is a must.' The Times Who is Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and how did he lead a democracy on the fringe of Europe into dictatorship? How has chaos in the Middle East blown back over Turkey's borders? And why doesn't the West just cut Erdogan and his regime off? Hannah Lucinda Smith has been living in Turkey as the Times correspondent for nearly a decade, reporting on the ground from the onset of the Arab Spring through terrorist attacks, mass protests, civil war, unprecedented refugee influx and the explosive, bloody 2016 coup attempt that threatened to topple - and kill - Erdogan. Erdogan Rising introduces Turkey as a vital country, one that borders and buffers Western Europe, the Middle East and the old Soviet Union, marshals the second largest army in NATO and hosts more refugees than any other nation. As president, Erdogan is the face of devotion and division, a leader who mastered macho divide-and-rule politics a decade and a half before Donald Trump cottoned on, and has used it to lead his country into spiralling authoritarianism. Yet Erdogan is no ordinary dictator. His elections are won only by slivers, and Turkey remains defined by its two warring cults: those who worship Erdogan, the wilful Muslim nationalist with a tightening authoritarian grip, and those who stand behind Ataturk, the secularist, westward-looking leader who founded the republic and remains its best loved icon - now eighty years dead. Erdogan commands a following so devoted they compose songs in his honour, adorn their homes with his picture, and lay down their lives to keep him in power. Erdogan Rising asks how this century's most successful populist won his position, and where Turkey is headed next.