Born in London to a Turkish mother and British father, Alev Scott moved to Istanbul to discover what it means to be Turkish in a country going through rapid political and social change, with an extraordinary past still linked to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and an ever more surprising present under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.From the European buzz of modern-day Constantinople to the Arabic-speaking towns of the south-east, Turkish Awakening investigates mass migration...

*A Radio 4 Book of the Week*'Captivating, mind-boggling and deeply disturbing' – Maureen Freely'Humane, thoughtful and urgent — this book will make you think, make you laugh, make you cry, but also make you burn with rage' – Dr Mary WellesleyA thought-provoking deep dive into the global fertility industry and the commodification of the maternal body__________Should surrogacy be a...

*A Radio 4 Book of the Week*'Captivating, mind-boggling and deeply disturbing' – Maureen Freely'Humane, thoughtful and urgent — this book will make you think, make you laugh, make you cry, but also make you burn with rage' – Dr Mary WellesleyA thought-provoking deep dive into the global fertility industry and the commodification of the maternal body__________Should surrogacy be a...

In the 1960s, Kamal Al-Solaylee’s father was one of the wealthiest property owners in Aden, in the south of Yemen, but when the country shrugged off its colonial roots, his properties were confiscated, and the family was forced to leave. The family moved first to Beirut, which suddenly became one of the most dangerous places in the world, then Cairo. After a few peaceful years, even the safe haven of Cairo struggled under a new wave of Islamic extremism that culminated with the assassinati...

A Thousand Farewells is the heartfelt and personal chronicle of a journalist who has devoted her career to covering one of the world’s most volatile regions.In 1976, Nahlah Ayed’s family gave up a comfortable life in Winnipeg for the squalor of a Palestinian refugee camp in Amman, Jordan. The transition was jarring but it was during this unsettling period that Ayed first closely observed the people whose heritage she shared. She had to become accustomed to...

An investigative journalist uncovers a hidden custom in Afghanistan that will transform your understanding of what it means to grow up as a girl.“An astonishingly clear picture of this resourceful, if imperfect, solution to the problem of girlhood in a society where women have few rights and overwhelming restrictions.”—The Boston GlobeIn Afghanistan, a culture ruled almost entirely by men, the birth of a son is cause for celebratio...

A riveting, real-life equivalent of The Kite Runner—an astonishingly powerful and profoundly moving story of a young couple willing to risk everything for love that puts a human face on the ongoing debate about women's rights in the Muslim world.Zakia and Ali were from different tribes, but they grew up on neighboring farms in the hinterlands of Afghanistan. By the time they were young teenagers, Zakia, strikingly beautiful and fiercely opinionated, and Ali, shy and tender...

A SPECTATOR AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEARA BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK'Timely and beautifully written' Sunday Times'Phenomenal. An extraordinary insight into a country barely known - and often feared - by the West' VogueWelcome to Tehran, a city where survival depends on a network of subterfuge. Here is a place where mullahs visit prostitutes, drug kin...

Winner of the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Non-Fiction:In the midst of an unfolding international crisis, the renowned journalist Deborah Campbell finds herself swept up in the mysterious disappearance of Ahlam, her guide, "fixer," and friend. Her frank, personal account of her journey to rescue her, and the triumph of friendship and courage over terrorism, is as riveting as it is illuminating.The story begins in 2007 when Deborah Campbell travels ...

The poignant and powerful story of a young Iranian woman’s tenuous life in a country she thought she could change“Affecting . . . an indelible portrait of the author’s family and a highly personal take on Iran’s social and political evolution.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York TimesAzadeh Moaveni, longtime Middle East correspondent for Time magazine, returns to Iran to cover the rise of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Living ...

Eight years after the Taliban was ousted from government, an insurgency rages in Afghanistan, drug barons and war lords rule the turf, and the truth remains unspoken. In Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women, author Sally Armstrong confronts unspoken truths and unravels the threads that are strangling Afghanistan's attempts to join the twenty-first century. A veteran reporter, Armstrong interviews women and girls from all walks of life, focusing on the chan...

In Afghanistan under Taliban rule, women were forbidden to work or go to school, they could not leave their homes without a male chaperone, and they could not be seen without a head-to-toe covering called the burqa. A woman’s slightest infractions were met with brutal public beatings. That is why it is both appropriate and incredible that the sole effective civil resistance to Taliban rule was made by women. Veiled Courage reveals the remarkable bravery and spirit of the ...