Learning about Kamila Sidiqi was a pleasure. Her story is amazing and well told by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon. Women living during the Taliban were incredably brave.. I quote, "Brave young women complete heroic acts every day, with no one bearing witness..... I wanted to pullback the curtain for readers on a place foreigners know more for its rocket attacks and roadside bombs than its countless quiet feats of courage. The author certainly did this. ( )

When the father and older brother must leave Kabul to avoid punishment/conscription by the Taliban, the oldest sister living at home must figure out how to make money to feed her siblings. She starts a business that ultimately employs quite a few women, who desperately need jobs to survive, right under the noses of Taliban soldiers. What is life like for women in Afghanistan under the Taliban? This book, while amazingly inspiring, tears your heart out learning what their lives were like. Doubly so knowing that the Taliban is cracking down as hard now as it did then, after so much hope. I believe this is an important read to show how brutally women are treated by the Taliban, but also how women can be so brilliant and such creative thinkers to save their communities. Also, if you need pointers on how to start a business, this is entrepreneurship 101! An excellent book. ( )

The incredible true account of Kamila Sidiqi who, when her father and brother were forced to flee Kabul Afghanistan, became the sole breadwinner for her five siblings. Armed only with grit and determination, she picked up a needle and thread and created a thriving business of her own and held her family together.

When the Taliban took over Kabul, Kamila, her sisters and her family’s life changed dramatically. No longer could women go to school. They couldn’t even leave the house without a male family member as escort and many more restrictions that Kamila had not grown up with. Kamila took risks to start a business as her family would starve otherwise. Kamila was certainly someone to be admired for bravery, persistence and hard work but the situation in which she and her family lived was very sad. ( )

A fascinating story about a female entrepreneur trying to start a business in secret under the restrictive taliban regime. We have no idea what true oppression is. I can’t imagine being in the midst of a career or college and having the world crashed out around you and losing every single right that you had because you are a woman.

“Now that it has been taken away, Kabuli girls of every age understood exactly how precious education really was.” ( )

Fascinating book about a woman who started a business in Kabul during the time that the Taliban was in power. Leaves me once again amazed at how little I know about Afghanistan. ( )