By Leigh Andrews

Written by Jean Sasson, best-selling author of the equally eye-opening Princess, this book is not a light, easy read. It follows the life of Maryam Khail, a young girl born in Afghanistan who starts her life pretending to be a boy, as she instinctively knows that boys have it better.

The book follows Maryam’s privileged upbringing in the city of Kabul – in that her parents don’t automatically resent her for being female. She constantly pushes her luck with prolonged hand washing rituals that annoy her extended family, and sneaking off in the family car without permission. She vows to always be a strong woman on seeing the brutality suffered by others and on hearing the stories of her grandmother; aunts; and cousins, who were treated as slaves by the men in the family, despite having a link to royalty. However, she soon realises that it’s not as easy as that – when Russians invade Afghanistan, the teenager is forced to flee the country to India with her family in order to survive. Following much hardship, the smaller family unit moves to the deceptive freedom of America. It is here that everything comes crashing down for Maryam, as her father arranges for her to marry a seemingly sweet Afghan, Kaiss. This turns out to be her worst nightmare, as the ever abusive and threatening Kaiss refuses to accept Maryam’s wish for a divorce and eventually escapes to Afghanistan with their young son, Duran - without Maryam’s permission. What follows is a battle for contact with her son while Maryam has remarried a better man in Saudi Arabia. When Maryam eventually makes contact with Duran, she is saddened to learn he has turned into a manipulative young man who takes after his father, filled with evil thoughts of revenge that she had divorced his father.

I cannot fully describe the devastating scenes that unfold in this true story – from the rape and abuse many women suffer at the hands of their own husbands, while the rest of their families turn a blind eye, to the injustice of gender discrimination in countries like Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. The book’s dedication, by Khail, states: “These memories of Afghanistan are dedicated to three people who loved Afghanistan with all their hearts: To my beloved parents, and to Farid, my ‘big brother’, I miss you every day of my life.” Sasson adds, “For every woman in Afghanistan who silently suffers unimaginable abuse at the hands of the men who should love and respect her. I’m sure these women wonder if anyone in the world cares – I care.”

Anyone who isn’t fully aware of the horrors still inflicted on women and their ‘second-class existence’ in the oppressive Middle East should read this book. I often paged back to the paragraph stating that this book is a non-fictional account, and that the brutal contents are true. This book is a definite must-read.

For the Love of a Son is published by Doubleday, an imprint of Transworld Publishers (a Random House Group company).