Our world as it once was
In August 2014, Farida was, like any ordinary teenager, enjoying the last days of summer before her final year at school. However, her peaceful mountain village in northern Iraq was an ISIS target as their genocide against the Yazidi people began.
The catastrophe
ISIS murdered the men and boys in the village, including Farida's father and brother, and took the women hostage. Farida was one of them. She was held in a slave camp, in the homes of ISIS members and finally in a desert training camp. Continually she struggled, resisted and fought against her captors, showing unimaginable strength and bravery.
This is my story
Eventually, Farida managed to plot her escape and fled into the desert with five young girls in her care, but defeating ISIS was just the first step in her journey. In this book she tells her remarkable and inspiring story. Shattering, brave, angering account * The Bookseller * Truly a triumph of the human spirit over terror * Irish Times * Farida's story needs to be told * The Times * 'How much can a single person endure? Traumatised, uprooted, abused - Farida continues to deal with the consequences of ISIS. Nevertheless, this memoir is full of hope. She is a very strong individual, she has the heart of a lioness. An amazing story that encourages us never to keep quiet or to give in' -- Frank Heinrich, German Parliamentary Speaker on Human Rights 'Farida tells her story courageously and bravely as she describes how she resisted attempts to convert, marry and rape her, for so long in some cases that the ISIS henchmen actually left her alone' * Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung *
The Girl Who Escaped ISIS: Farida's Story