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 *
There is something truly extraordinary about this book. Zahra Joya is such a courageous and inspiring woman and her story is totally gripping. – Natasha Walter * author of Feminism for a World on Fire *
This brilliant book is a long overdue corrective: Joya is the compelling and incisive narrator of her own life story… A memoir informed by history, tenacity and sharp journalistic insight. – Siobhan McGuirk * Red Pepper Magazine *
The Vanishing Girl of Kabul is a mirror not just for Joya’s life, but for millions of other Afghan women and girls. – Katie Dancey-Downs * Index on Censorship *
Zahra’s laser focus on the implications of Taliban rule on women and girls hammers home the colossal impact of gender-based oppression. – Isabella Silvers * The New Arab *

Zahra Joya is a leading human rights journalist living in exile in London. She was airlifted out of Kabul in the chaotic days of the Taliban’s takeover of the country, in August 2021.

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