Latifa was born into an educated middle-class Afghan family in Kabul in 1980. She dreamed of one day of becoming a journalist, she was interested in fashion, movies and friends. Her father was in the import/export business and her mother was a doctor.
Then in September 1996, Taliban soldiers seized power in Kabul. From that moment, Latifa, just 16 years old became a prisoner in her own home. Her school was closed. Her mother was banned from working. The simplest and most basic freedoms - walking down the street, looking out a window - were no longer hers. She was now forced to wear a chadri.
My Forbidden Face provides a poignant and highly personal account of life under the Taliban regime. With painful honesty and clarity Latifa describes the way she watched her world falling apart, in the name of a fanatical interpretation of a faith that she could not comprehend. Her voice captures a lost innocence, but also echoes her determination to live in freedom and hope.
Earlier this year, Latifa and her parents escaped Afghanistan with the help of a French-based Afghan resistance group.

* Radio reading anticipated * Latifa is doing on-going interviews and talks as she now has a visa and can travel freely

About the Author
In May 2001, Latifa & her parents escaped Afghanistan & were brought to Europe in an operation organized by a French-based Afghan resistance group & Elle Magazine. She speaks Persian and is learning English and French. Latifa is not her real name.

Reviews
Her descriptions of watching videos in secret, listening to the radio in terror lest she be caught and hovering on the edge of a black hole of depression during what should have been the liveliest years of her life give a very human face to the known facts of how the most repressive government on the planet operated. * IRISH INDEPENDENT *
A salutary read for any Western woman, and one that makes you appreciate the freedoms we often take for granted. * GLAMOUR *
A poweful and poetic account of life under the Taliban. * DAILY TELEGRAPH *
This thoughtful and affecting account...questions the complacency of Western feminism which has forgotten the many women across the world who still have nothing. * DAILY MAIL *



Book Information
ISBN 9781860499616
Author Latifa
Format Paperback
Page Count 192
Imprint Virago Press Ltd
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 137g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 126mm * 10mm