10th ANNIVESARY EDITION: The improved 2022 10th Anniversary edition includes a short interview with the author bringing the her life story up to date as well as the editor's notes on the origins of this bestseller.

This is the true story of Samina Younis, born in Britain to a strict, religious Muslim family - a family that practices the tradition of forced marriage which they brought back with them from their village in Pakistan.
One of seven sisters and two brothers, she was a bitter disappointment to her parents who desperately wanted a son; as a result she suffered terrible physical and mental abuse at the hands of both her mother and father; later she was to fall victim to continued abuse from her very own siblings.
At the age of just sixteen, on a trip to Pakistan Samina was told that she must marry her second cousin, a boy she had met only once in her life and for whom she had no affection whatsoever.
The writing of this book was Samina's only way of coming to terms with the life that she had been forced into, the mental conflict over her enduring love for a mother, now dead, who even on her deathbed was compelled to dominate and control her future.

The book recounts in an honest, unvarnished style, her struggle against her family and her dramatic escape to a life of her own.

The publishers and author wish to thank the thousands of people who have already read this book and made it such a success in raising awareness of cruel and archaic practices forced on women and men around the world.