Defiant Dreams: The Journey of an Afghan Girl Who Risked Everything for Education

From its stunning first sentence, “I began to grow up the day my mother warned me to stop laughing,” Mahfouz’s debut memoir about coming of age in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan captures readers’ hearts. Mahfouz, using a pseudonym to protect her family, and coauthor Kapoor present a more intimate and nuanced view of Afghanistan than the traditional news media typically does. Showing how political regime changes and foreign countries’ interventions affected the lives of Mahfouz’s parents and grandparents helps readers genuinely appreciate the incessant instability Afghanis have endured in modern times. While Mahfouz was forbidden to attend school, she grew up listening to stories of the sacrifices her parents and grandparents made for their own educations. Using a dial-up connection to the internet, she accessed the free educational platform Khan Academy, studying science, literature, and math—which she discovered she loved. With the help of an American she met online, Mahfouz came to the United States, where she attended college and now works as a quantum computing researcher. The author’s heartbreaking, inspiring memoir demonstrates the transformational power of education, especially for women, and shows what people can achieve if given the opportunity.