Tuesday 9th October, 2012 started like any other ordinary day in the life of a 15-year-old girl in Swat, Northern Pakistan. A trip to school and back with an exam in the morning. But this was not a normal day, nor was the girl ordinary. Malala Yousufzai was embarking on a tryst with history, a voice of purity, of courage and determination who refused to be silenced by the assassin’s bullet.
The Taliban hit squad managed to critically injure her with a bullet to her head, neck and shoulder. After initial emergency treatment locally she underwent critical surgery and cochlear implantation in Birmingham. She survived with a resonance that was heard in every corner of the world. From the age of 11, Malala was the voice for women’s rights in the remote valleys of Swat bordering the most dangerous parts of the globe, Eastern Afghanistan.
‘I am Malala’ is a story of a girl who defied odds, touched hearts and evoked passions about the struggle for female education in Northern Pakistan. The life of a teenager who was ready to sacrifice all for her cause, and project the true place of education in a ‘Taliban society’ where Islam is misrepresented to keep women in shackles.
In this book she takes us through her struggle, which started with a blog for the BBC as an 11-year old under a pseudonym. Her story of peace and bravery, of survival is very well narrated and published with the help of Christina Lamb, an award-winning journalist. A book that opens the door to a world, unimaginable to most in the West, through the eyes of innocence. The girl who defied the Taliban, and survived as the youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize.
This book is a compelling read of her quest to make the world a better place.
