Farida's Story

The Girl Who Beat ISIS

The astonishing true story of a heroic young woman's capture by and eventual escape from ISIS

‘How much can a single person endure? Traumatised, uprooted, abused – Farida continues to deal with the consequences of ISIS. Nevertheless, this memoir is full of hope. She is a very strong individual, she has the heart of a lioness. An amazing story that encourages us never to keep quiet or to give in’

Frank Heinrich, German Parliamentary Speaker on Human Rights

‘Farida tells her story courageously and bravely as she describes how she resisted attempts to convert, marry and rape her, for so long in some cases that the ISIS henchmen actually left her alone’

‘Farida shows the good and bad sides of religion… She criticises aspects of her own upbringing like certain religious taboos – such nuance is impressive’

‘Her story highlights atrocities, but it is also a moving account of how friendship, love and the will to survive are mightier than any barbarism’

A stunning, heart wrenching narrative... Everyone should read this in order to get to the heart of the tragedy of the Arab world and the distortion of Islam being perpetrated by ISIS. Beautifully written in the voice of a teenage girl, this book gives more of an understanding of what is happening than political treatises.

This powerful testimoney is ... as gripping as it is appalling

A compelling testament to the suffering of ordinary people caught up in violence far beyond their control – and to the particularly terrible price it exacts from women.

Farida Khalaf won her small but significant battle. Its happy ending notwithstanding, it's difficult to focus on positivity – but then, perhaps that's why this remains a vital read.

A gut-wrenching and relentless experience...Farida's story needs to be told.

A powerful description of a world ripped apart... Farida tells a story that is testament to how toxic violence can be born of religion.

This is a mesmerising study of human cruelty and a brave depiction of the monsters that arise when reason sleeps.

It’s a shattering, brave, enraging book but also a stirring story of survival.

An unflinching account… This is one of those rare volumes that offers astonishing insights into the human spirit… A catalogue of horror is made bearable only by her extraordinary courage.

Although a harrowing story it is also an uplifting one as it is truly a triumph of the human spirit over terror.

This is a brave, harrowing but necessary book.

So shocking you will read it in one sitting.

In August 2014, Farida, like any ordinary teenage girl, was enjoying the summer holidays before her last year at school. But Farida lived in the mountains of northern Iraq — and what happened next was unimaginable. Her village was an ISIS target. 
 
ISIS jihadists murdered the men and boys, including her father and brother, before taking Farida and the other women prisoner. This is the story of what happened to Farida after she was captured: the beatings, the rapes, the markets where ISIS sold women like cattle, and Farida's realisation that the more resistant she became, the harder it was for her captors to continue their atrocities against her. So she struggled, she bit, she kicked, she accused her captors of going against their religion, until, one day, the door to her room was left unlocked. She took her chance and, with five younger girls in her charge, fled into the Syrian desert. 
 
Farida showed incredible courage in the face of the unthinkable, and now with The Girl Who Beat ISIS she bravely relives her story to bear witness. Searing and immediate, this is the first memoir by a young woman that shows first-hand what life is like for innocents caught up in the maelstrom of day-to-day life with ISIS.

Farida Khalaf

Andrea C. Hoffmann

Jamie Bulloch

Truly a triumph of the human spirit over terror

This is one of those rare volumes that offers astonishing insights into the human spirit

A compelling testament to the suffering of ordinary people caught up in violence far beyond their control

Truly a triumph of the human spirit over terror

This is one of those rare volumes that offers astonishing insights into the human spirit

A compelling testament to the suffering of ordinary people caught up in violence far beyond their control

Our world as it once was 
 
In August 2014, Farida was, like any ordinary teenager, enjoying the last days of summer before her final year at school. However, her peaceful mountain village in northern Iraq was an ISIS target as their genocide against the Yazidi people began. 
 
The catastrophe 
 
ISIS murdered the men and boys in the village, including Farida's father and brother, and took the women hostage. Farida was one of them. She was held in a slave camp, in the homes of ISIS members and finally in a desert training camp. Continually she struggled, resisted and fought against her captors, showing unimaginable strength and bravery. 
 
This is my story 
 
Eventually, Farida managed to plot her escape and fled into the desert with five young girls in her care, but defeating ISIS was just the first step in her journey. In this book she tells her remarkable and inspiring story.

Farida Khalaf

Praise for The Girl Who Escaped ISIS

Truly a triumph of the human spirit over terror

Farida's story needs to be told

This is one of those rare volumes that offers astonishing insights into the human spirit

Truly a triumph of the human spirit over terror

Farida's story needs to be told

This is one of those rare volumes that offers astonishing insights into the human spirit

Truly a triumph of the human spirit over terror

Farida's story needs to be told

This is one of those rare volumes that offers astonishing insights into the human spirit

Books by Farida Khalaf

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter