I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced

Synopsis
"I'm a simple village girl who has always obeyed the orders of my father and brothers. Since forever, I have learned to say yes to everything. Today I have decided to say no."

Forced by her father to marry a man three times her age, young Nujood Ali was sent away from her parents and beloved sisters and made to live with her husband and his family in an isolated village in rural Yemen. There she suffered daily from physical and emotional abuse by her mother-in-law and nightly at the rough hands of her spouse. Flouting his oath to wait to have sexual relations with Nujood until she was no longer a child, he took her virginity on their wedding night. She was only ten years old.


Unable to endure the pain and distress any longer, Nujood fled--not for home, but to the courthouse of the capital, paying for a taxi ride with a few precious coins of bread money. When a renowned Yemeni lawyer heard about the young victim, she took on Nujood's case and fought the...

My Review: It is hard for me to rate this book or say that I loved it, given the topic. I will say I highly recommend it, as you won’t believe it. I was in complete shock over this book. I think it is well written (believe it is for 10-13 year olds). It was a very short book, put to the point. The length was perfect. I read this book in 3 days. I just wanted to take Nujood into my arms and home and protect her. It is incredible what Nujood went through in her first 10 years of life. It was very educational and opened my naive eyes to another part of the world. It was very hard for me to believe a world like that exists, but I know it does. It is so easy for us turn a blind eye to other’s issues. I kept looking at my seven year old twin girls thinking, this could be them, if we lived in a different part of the world. Nujood and her lawyer go on my list of heroines.

P.S. Isn't she just beautiful?