mary spender

Defiant Dreams depicts clearly through one girl's experience growing up in Kandahar Afghanistan all that is grossly terrible about living life as a female especially under the restrictive rule of the Taliban. The family's story is woven together lovingly. You understand how bonded they all are despite the daily horrors besetting them all. Laughter and humour abound as well as strict discipline dictating the lives of girls from puberty onwards. Our heroine, and she is just that allows us to be part of her close knit family , knowing them all very well. What is astounding is her ability to teach herself English online, then maths and trigonometry determined take a different life than the one dictated by marriage.