SOLD

This book is a true account of two girls from Birmingham who are sold by their father to have arranged marriages in Yemen.  Two sisters, Nadia and Zahra, are engaged to young boys around the age of fourteen and are isolated in the villages of Yemen away from their family and forced into a life of modern day slavery.

It is a true account that reminds to be thankful of one word “freedom.” I imagine what it would be like to be women forced into these arranged marriages with no independence or freedom to choose the one you love. No freedom to leave the home and go for a walk in peace.  No freedom to travel or meet new friends. No freedom to eat and taste different kinds of foods. No freedom to go enjoy a nice movie or buy a nice new book.  These women went from London lifestyles of clothes, shopping, cars, and many friends to Yemen-a place that keeps you living in your needs rather than your wants.  Just reading about the laborious work alone and what they ate day in and day out made me feel such sadness for them not living and enjoying their young lives. These women are slaves to men’s needs, wants, and desires rather than their own.  Men’s feelings, thoughts, and beliefs are held superior to the women’s and unfortunately the women have to just conform to them.

In the end, only one of them escapes. The mother realized her girls were missing and battled against the Yemen system for years and years to bring them home. The strong willed one, Zehra, escapes from Yemen, but she is forced to leave her two children in Yemen.  Nadia is the kind, sweet, passive one who has more difficulty with the detachment from her children.   While they fight for her to come home, she remains in Yemen living a life that she became accustomed to, but still holds onto some hope that just one day she will be rescued…