Latifa was born into an educated middle-class Afghan family, at once liberal and religious, in Kabul in 1980. As a teenager she longed to become a journalist, she was interested in fashion and cinema and going out with her friends. Her mother, a doctor, and her father, a businessman encouraged her dreams.
Then, in 1996, the Taliban seized power. From that moment, Latifa, 16 years old, became a prisoner in her own home. Her school was closed. Her mother was banned from working. The simplest and most basic freedoms - walking down the street, looking out a window - were no longer hers. She was now forced to cover herself entirely with a chadri.
With painful honesty and clarity Latifa describes the way her world fell apart, in the name of a fanatical interpretation of a faith. Her story captures the lost innocence of thousands like her and goes to the heart of a people caught up in a terrible tragedy in a brutalised country. But Latifa is determined to survive - and live in freedom and hope.
