Nujood: 10 Years Old and Divorced is set in the country of Yemen, in the city of Sanaa, which has a population of three million and is also the capital city. In this poignant story of betrayal and abuse, we see the loss of a young girl's childhood innocence. At the tender age of ten, Nujood is given in marriage to a man three times her age by her father. Her new husband forces her to leave everything she knows and loves to start a new life she neither wants nor is old enough to understand. She shows an amazing amount of bravery as she attempts to escape from this living nightmare.
Because of this one little girl's determination to stop the abuse at the hands of her husband and his mother, she is able to not only able to save herself, but also saves others going through the same anguish.
After reading this memoir, I was both saddened that a community could allow the blatant abuse of a child as a matter "the cultural norm" and inspired by the courage of not only Nujood but by her attorney for her perseverance to correct a great wrong.
Nujood was changed forever. Granted the divorced she was able to move back to her family home without fear of a husband's abuse.
This is a must read for anyone who likes stories that are socially relevant as well as enlightening. After Nujood's plight was made public to the world, laws were changed and other young girls have been spared.
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