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    Unavailable
    A Different Kind of Daughter: The Girl Who Hid from the Taliban in Plain Sight
    Unavailable
    A Different Kind of Daughter: The Girl Who Hid from the Taliban in Plain Sight
    Unavailable
    A Different Kind of Daughter: The Girl Who Hid from the Taliban in Plain Sight
    Audiobook12 hours

    A Different Kind of Daughter: The Girl Who Hid from the Taliban in Plain Sight

    Written by Maria Toorpakai and Katharine Holstein

    Narrated by Neela Vaswani

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Amazon Best Book of the Month
    "Maria Toorpakai is a true inspiration, a pioneer for millions of other women struggling to pave their own paths to autonomy, fulfillment, and genuine personhood." --Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and And the Mountains Echoed
    Maria Toorpakai hails from Pakistan's violently oppressive northwest tribal region, where the idea of women playing sports is considered haram-un-Islamic-forbidden-and girls rarely leave their homes. But she did, passing as a boy in order to play the sports she loved, thus becoming a lightning rod of freedom in her country's fierce battle over women's rights.
    A DIFFERENT KIND OF DAUGHTER tell of Maria's harrowing journey to play the sport she knew was her destiny, first living as a boy and roaming the violent back alleys of the frontier city of Peshawar, rising to become the number one female squash player in Pakistan. For Maria, squash was more than liberation-it was salvation. But it was also a death sentence, thrusting her into the national spotlight and the crosshairs of the Taliban, who wanted Maria and her family dead. Maria knew her only chance of survival was to flee the country.
    Enter Jonathon Power, the first North American to earn the title of top squash player in the world, and the only person to heed Maria's plea for help. Recognizing her determination and talent, Jonathon invited Maria to train and compete internationally in Canada. After years of living on the run from the Taliban, Maria packed up and left the only place she had ever known to move halfway across the globe and pursue her dream. Now Maria is well on the way to becoming a world champion as she continues to be a voice for oppressed women everywhere.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateMay 3, 2016
    ISBN9781478908890
    Unavailable
    A Different Kind of Daughter: The Girl Who Hid from the Taliban in Plain Sight
    Author

    Maria Toorpakai

    Born in 1990 to a Pashtun family in South Waziristan, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, Maria is currently ranked fifty-fourth in the world and is Pakistan Number One at squash. The only way Maria could play sport as a girl was to disguise herself as a boy. When her gender was eventually revealed in order for her to train professionally in squash, Maria and her family received death and kidnap threats, as her actions were perceived as 'un-Islamic'. The Pakistani national squash federation provided security for her home and training venue, but Maria decided it was a safer option to seek an opportunity to train internationally. Maria lives and trains in Toronto, Canada, under former professional squash player Jonathon Power.

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    Reviews for A Different Kind of Daughter

    4.5/5

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    • 5/5
      I had always believed that the Pashtun people were a tall and noble people, but I had no idea that their females were as nothing and forced into seclusion, deliver their baby without trained assistance, or that the Pakistani version of a Taliban found all Pashtun disgusting and open targets for murder. But then, I also did not know that Pakistani sports teams were run by branches of the military, that Squash is the second most popular sport in Pakistan, which is also the most heroin addicted country in the world.Before being forced to marry, Maria's father, a professor of engineering, had been locked in an asylum, twice, for publicly speaking out about the rights of women to seek an education, receive medical care inherit or buy property, or simply own and drive a car. And the mother was considered an abomination for having learned too much--but husband later assisted her to gain degrees, which she used to pursue schooling for many girls.Enter Maria. She simply did not fit into the culture. Born in 1990, at the age of 4 she totally disdained the cultural norm, burned the girl clothing, and hacked off her hair. Her father supported her needs and renamed her Ghengis Khan, and she wore her older brother's outgrown clothing. Constitutionally unable to tolerate being kept indoors for schooling, she learned from her highly educated family in the evenings. At the age of twelve, she discovered the sport of squash and found her passion, goals, and joy of life. She became the first Pashtun girl to enter the sport, and was amazed, several years later, to find that there was a national girl's team. But unlike the boys, there were no government supplied shoes, uniforms, transportation to interAsian tournaments. With a lot of hard work, she eventually became the national champion, and therefore as much a target for the Pakistan taliban as her mother and later, her sister who held a public government position. As a target, she became confined to the house, tried to practice, and sank into a deep depression. The family eventually found ways to send her to a meet in Kuala Lampur, but she came down with Dengue Fever and nearly died, spending 6 days in ICU and suffering severe muscle wasting. The family got her home, and then found a way to send her to a meet in the states, even though she was in no shape to play. There, Jonathon Power, world title holder, caught up with her and brought her to Toronto to heal, become able to be competitive again, and coach in his academy.An emotionally exhausting book, but one that needs reading and sharing.