"A Good Wife, Escaping the Life I Never Chose," by Samra Zafar

"A Good Wife, Escaping the Life I Never Chose," by Samra Zafar

At 15, Samra Zafar had big dreams for herself. She was going to go to university, and forge her own path. Then with almost no warning, those dreams were pulled away from her when she was suddenly married to a stranger at 17 and had to leave behind her family in Pakistan to move to Canada. Her new husband and his family promised that the marriage and the move would be a fulfillment of her dream, not a betrayal of it. But as the walls of their home slowly became a prison, Samra realized the promises were empty ones.

Desperate to get out, and refusing to give up, she hatched an escape plan for herself and her two daughters. Somehow she found the strength to not only build a new future, but to walk away from her past, ignoring the pleas of her family and risking cultural isolation by divorcing her husband.

A Good Wife tells her harrowing and inspiring story, following her from a young girl with big dreams, through finding strength in the face of oppression and then finally battling through to empowerment.

I read this book in one sitting as it was such a good book.  It will stay with you a long time after you have read it.  This book is a memoir and most of what happens in Canada is close to where we used to live in Brampton, Ontario.  So what was mentioned in this book does not surprise me.  However I must say this sort of abuse could and does happen in other nationalities.  

The cruelties and abuse she had to deal with from her in-laws was awful, how she put up with it is terrible.  However after talking to someone; she said the mother-in-law rules the roost in the home, and what she says go.  I thought that when the mother-in-law told Samra how she was treated as a new bride, it would have made the mother-in-law want to treat Samra better and not put her through the same pain and misery?

You have to admire Samra's courage and perseverance; as to achieve what she did was nothing short of a miracle.  I now wonder though what her inlaws think of this now she has written a book about what they did?  To my mind also this book portrays her ex-husband as a bully (which he was), but also a very weak man.  

Stars out of 5 : 5 A must read, it is interesting to see what happens in the South Asian (Pakistani & Indian) communities and what is classed as acceptable.  Women are treat in some cases no better than animals.

This is my own review; I borrowed the book from my local library.