Author

Zubaida Ali

A final-year medical student from Lahore, writing towards a career in psychology and about the emotions that are hardest to name.

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The book

It Was Not Your Fault

It Was Not Your Fault is an account of narcissistic abuse written from inside it, by someone who lived it rather than studied it. It follows the whole arc — the charm at the start, the slow erosion of your own reality, the childhood wounds that make the pattern feel like home, and the long work of leaving.

Across six chapters it moves from what the abuse feels like, through the cycle itself and the wounds that attract it, to breaking free, reclaiming yourself, and the life that waits on the other side. It is honest about how much of that is grief.

It was written for anyone who has spent sleepless nights trying to work out what went wrong, and for anyone still replaying the same conversation. Its argument is the title: it was not your fault.

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The themes

What this book is about .

01

Six chapters, from the first signs of the spell to life beyond the abuse

02

The narcissistic abuse cycle told from the victim’s side, not from a textbook

03

The childhood wounds and core beliefs that make a narcissist feel like home

04

What leaving actually takes — and why understanding has to come before healing

05

Written from the author’s own experience while training as a doctor

Behind The Book

About the Author

Zubaida is a final-year medical student with a love for poetry, writing, and understanding the human mind. Aspiring to pursue a career in psychology, she is deeply interested in the emotions and experiences that shape us. Writing has always been her place of comfort — a way of giving words to feelings that are often difficult to name. This is her first book, born from her love for words and her belief that sometimes, healing begins with feeling understood.