Author

Mashal Zafar

A writer and founder of Healing Scars, telling the stories of girls who hope in places where hope is treated like rebellion.

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The book

A Girl in Afghanistan

Fatima lives between two worlds: the rooftop where she reads stolen pages by heart, and the house below where she must vanish into silence.

With her mother gone and her uncle's shadow growing longer, she understands, at seventeen, that no one is coming to save her. If she is going to get out, she will have to become someone the walls cannot hold.

When a single desperate act opens an unexpected door, Fatima walks through it, carrying nothing but a tin her mother left behind and a hunger that years of erasure could not touch.

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The themes

What this book is about .

01

A rooftop, and the only place a girl can breathe

02

Stolen pages read until they are known by heart

03

Books hidden under roof tiles

04

Seventeen, and the understanding that no one is coming

05

A tin her mother left behind

Behind The Book

About the Author

Mashal Zafar is a young, passionate writer from Pakistan who advocates for women's rights and uses storytelling to raise awareness about the struggles faced by girls around the world. Inspired by themes of education, identity, and freedom, she writes stories that explore what it means to hope in places where hope is often treated like rebellion.

Beyond writing, Mashal is the founder of Healing Scars, a non-profit initiative dedicated to raising awareness about women's rights, educational disparity, and social justice around the world. Through advocacy, writing and community work, she hopes to create spaces where voices are heard, stories are shared, and healing becomes possible.

A Girl in Afghanistan is her debut novel.