Let Her Fly

Let Her Fly

A Father’s Journey and the Fight for Equality

Summary


In this intimate and extraordinary memoir, Ziauddin Yousafzai, the father of Malala, gives a moving account of fatherhood and his lifelong fight for equality – proving there are many faces of feminism.


“Whenever anybody has asked me how Malala became who she is, I have often used the phrase. ‘Ask me not what I did but what I did not do. I did not clip her wings’”

For over twenty years, Ziauddin Yousafzai has been fighting for equality – first for Malala, his daughter – and then for all girls throughout the world living in patriarchal societies. Taught as a young boy in Pakistan to believe that he was inherently better than his sisters, Ziauddin rebelled against inequality at a young age. And when he had a daughter himself he vowed that Malala would have an education, something usually only given to boys, and he founded a school that Malala could attend.

Then in 2012, Malala was shot for standing up to the Taliban by continuing to go to her father's school, and Ziauddin almost lost the very person for whom his fight for equality began.

Let Her Fly is Ziauddin’s journey from a stammering boy growing up in a tiny village high in the mountains of Pakistan, through to being an activist for equality and the father of the youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and now one of the most influential and inspiring young women on the planet.

Told through intimate portraits of each of Ziauddin’s closest relationships – as a son to a traditional father; as a father to Malala and her brothers, educated and growing up in the West; as a husband to a wife finally learning to read and write; as a brother to five sisters still living in the patriarchy – Let Her Fly looks at what it means to love, to have courage and fight for what is inherently right. Personal in its detail and universal in its themes, this landmark book shows why we must all keep fighting for the rights of girls and women everywhere.

Reviews

  • A treatise on progressive parenting and an inspirational tale of a man’s fight to defeat misogyny ... perhaps the first guidebook for fathers – or men in general – who aspire to be feminists
    The News on Sunday

About the authors

Ziauddin Yousafzai

Ziauddin Yousafzai is the father of Malala, the global activist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. In his own right, Ziauddin is an education activist, human rights campaigner and teacher. He hails from Pakistan's Swat Valley where, at great personal risk among grave political violence, he peacefully resisted the Taliban's efforts to shut down schools and limit their personal freedom. Ziauddin is co-founder of Malala Fund and is building a global movement for girls' education.
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Louise Carpenter

Louise Carpenter is a British writer, working primarily for The Saturday Times Magazine. Her work has also been published in many other publications including Granta, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and Vogue and has been syndicated worldwide. She is the author of two non-fiction books, An Unlikely Countess: Lily Budge and the 13th Earl of Galloway and Ida and Louise. She lives in Somerset with her family.
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