The Vanishing Girl of Kabul

A memoir that doubles as a warning. Zahra Joya writes for the women the world abandoned to the Taliban’s brutal gender apartheid - and refuses to let us forget them. [She] is one of the bravest journalists of our time. * Malala Yousafzai, education activist and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate in history *
Beautifully written and powerfully told. Joya’s story will leave you angry, but also awed that in this painful history there’s still profound hope. An impressive memoir of a truly inspiring individual * Lyse Doucet, Chief International Correspondent and senior presenter for the BBC and the author of The Finest Hotel in Kabul *
A brave and beautiful book which touches the soul, the heart and the mind * Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster and comedian *
In The Vanishing Girl of Kabul Zahra Joya writes with great insight and compassion about Afghanistan’s girls and women. This book is a unique and compelling account of refusing to be silenced or erased. It is about extraordinary courage and refusing to submit to oppression. Above all it is about hope and optimism, and one woman’s fight for freedom * Sir Laurie Bristow, Former British ambassador to Afghanistan and President of Hughes Hall, Cambridge University *
This is an important book, and Joya an important voice. She has a poetic turn of phrase that brings beauty to an otherwise horrific tale – Lucy Thynne * The Telegraph *
The Vanishing Girl of Kabul channels Afghanistan’s painful history through Joya’s remarkable story – Alona Ferber * Prospect *
Thankfully, The Vanishing Girl Of Kabul never descends into trauma porn. No country is wholly ‘good’ or ‘bad’, and Zahra’s story isn’t written with the cloying sentimentality of other refugee memoirs, where hurdles and trauma have been overcome. For Zahra, there is still work to be done. Although she is the thread of this story, she is part of a much bigger picture, where there can be no epilogue until women and girls, in Afghanistan and around the world, get the rights that they deserve. * New Arab *

Zahra Joya

Zahra Joya is an Afghan journalist now exiled in London and the founder of Rukhshana Media, one of Afghanistan’s first news agencies dedicated to women’s stories. Joya and her team continue reporting under immense danger. Her courageous journalism has earned global recognition, including the Foreign Press 2022 Award, Louis M. Lyons Award, Goalkeepers Changemaker 2022, and Marie Colvin Award. She was named as TIME Woman of the Year in 2022, was among BBC’s 100 Women, and was honored with Spain’s Llibertat d’Expressio 2022 award. She is a Fellow at Hughes Hall, Cambridge.

Amie Ferris-Rotman

Amie Ferris-Rotman is a British-American journalist and global news editor at New Lines Magazine in London. She has covered Afghan refugees and the war in Ukraine for TIME, spent nearly a decade in Russia as a Reuters and Washington Post correspondent, and exposed abuses against Kazakh women in Chinese camps. A former Reuters senior correspondent in Afghanistan, she founded Sahar Speaks, empowering Afghan female journalists, earning the British Press Award for Innovation (2016). A Stanford JSK Fellow, she holds degrees in Russian Studies and serves on Rukhshana Media’s board.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.