Growing up in Afghanistan, Maryam was a plucky teenager who rebelled against the terrible second-class life that Afghan women had to endure. When Russia invaded, she made a risky public show of defiance, which resulted in her having to flee to America to begin a new life.The promise of a fresh start restored Maryam? spirit but her father had other ideas and arranged her marriage to a violent man. Abused, beaten and sexually assaulted, Maryam? only form of joy was her new baby son. She escaped her brutal marriage by running back to her family, but her husband seized their little boy, and took him back to Afghanistan. It was eighteen years before she could be reunited with him. when America and the UK invaded Afghanistan in the aftermath of 9/11. Maryam seized her chance to return home and finally track down her boy: but he hadn't grown into the son she had hoped and longed for all those lonely years. . .Set against a landscape littered with the tragic tales of women's lives, this is the story of one brave, bold and determined woman who has fought her entire life for equality.