Daughters of Shame

by Jasvinder Sanghera

Paperback, 2009

Description

'I listen to those stories - told by women who have been drugged, beaten, imprisoned, raped and terrorised within the walls of the homes they grew up in. I listen and I am humbled by their resilience.' Jasvinder Sanghera knows what it means to flee from your family under threat of forced marriage - and to face the terrible consequences that follow. As a young girl that was just what she had to do. Jasvinder is now at the frontline of the battle to save women from the honour-based violence and threat of forced marriage that destroyed her own youth. Daughters of Shame reveals the stories of young women such as Shazia, kidnapped and taken to Pakistan to marry a man she had never met; and Banaz, murdered by her own family after escaping an abusive marriage. By turns frightening, enthralling and uplifting, Daughters of Shame reveals Jasvinder as a woman heedless of her own personal safety as she fights to help these women, in a world where the suffering and abuse of many is challenged by the courage of the few.… (more)

Publication

Hodder & Stoughton (2009)

User reviews

LibraryThing member eesti23

An interesting read about the situation of forced marriage, honour killings and the stories of the women affected by them. The book is told by Jasvinder Sanghera, the author, who also fled from the threat of forced marriage and went on to set up the charity, Karma Nirvana.

Through her own story and

the stories of some of the women that she has come into contact with, we learn about the circumstances that lead up to the situation, what life is like for those women and the challenges that face them when they choose to escape. More than just a fear for personal safety, Jasvinder highlights the need for emotional support as well.

I enjoyed the book. It provided examples without getting to a point that makes you want to turn away in horror. The one downside is that several women are discussed throughout the book and it can be hard to keep track of who is who when the chapters jump from person to person.

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LibraryThing member Jane-Phillips

I stumbled across Jasvinder Sanghera on You Tube through a Ted Talk. Sanghera ran away from home and her family in order not to be forced into marriage with a stranger. She went on to found Karma Nirvana, a community-based project to help South Asian women in the UK to escape family violence and

forced marriage. Sanghera wrote about her own experiences in her memoir "Shame" (on my to read list) and "Daughters of Shame" is the follow-up book. It tells the story of some of the women (and men) that Sanghera has worked with over the years with Karma Nirvana and the progress that the charity has made in helping victims of forced marriage and the abuse at the hands of family members that frequently goes along with it. It is a very eye-opening read and for me I gained a great insight into the lives of these people which gave me a greater understanding of the issue of forced marriages, how it has insidiously permeated South Asian culture and how it is not an easy problem to deal with and change because of that.

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