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9781999626105

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Reviews

`Ayoub's talent for description and detail. From clothes, to traditions, to smells and sounds, the author's descriptions of life in Yemen are - frighteningly at times - brought to life...Rich and descriptive, When a Bulbul Sings is an important book that candidly describes one girl's harrowing experiences being forced into marriage and her seemingly unending drive for freedom. The book is well-written and well-edited. I highly recommend it to those fighting violence against women and girls, those who enjoy reading international women writers, and those interested in creative non-fiction and memoirs' - KARLA J. STRAND; `Ms Ayoub has a way of setting an atmosphere that sucks you right into the hot, arid Yemen...The passages are beautiful poetic prose in motion. Uncle Suleiman, his wife, Adam and all the other colourful but bitter characters are complex and often we feel small twinges of sympathy for them...It deserves to be known by all and to be understood on more than just face value. I had finally found a book that could be a voice for not only people subject to being child brides, but anyone who has been sexually assaulted. And believe me, that is a lot of people that this book can provide healing to - much more healing than the #MeToo movement ever will' - JENNIFER BARRETT; `This is one of the most gripping, harrowing stories I've read, and I could hardly put the book down. ...Ayoub contributes clear teaching about child marriage...By giving us the full story from the child bride's perspective, Ayoub moves beyond sterile statistics and conveys the true horror of the situation...I find this to be an impressive first novel. I enjoy Ayoub's obvious love of words and language, and she's a great storyteller. The story of Eve is powerful, and anyone who stands for feminism and justice will value When a Bulbul Sings' - NEIL COULTER; `I am very, very impressed by Miss Ayoub's first novel...As a graduate student in Feminist Theory, I focused on women's movements in the Middle East, so When a Bulbul Sings was dealing with an especially powerful topic for me. And Yemen is a country where there remains a largely unreported narrative: the plight of women' - JACLYNN JOSEPH; `Once in a while, a book comes along that is autobiographical and the contents stay with you for months and years afterwards. When A Bulbul Sings is one of those books...I absolutely loved this book, it was a heart-breaking read but an essential one. It's a story that needs to be told, I don't know statistics but I do know that girls are still taken `back home' on the pretence of a holiday and not heard of again' - KELLY AHMED; `I also appreciated the psychology of rape victims - it is okay if your body reacts during rape. A biological reaction does NOT mean that this is consensual sex. Especially if the victim is a child - that is NEVER consensual. The graphic descriptions of depression and Eve's emotions are very powerful...and it really highlights the quality of the writing. I'm not one who gets emotionally involved in every book that I read, but the writing is so genuine and heartfelt that I couldn't avoid getting sucked in' - ERICA WHITE; `I found it multi-layered, engaging, and full of rich vocabulary...She gives us a fascinating glimpse into the lifestyle and traditions of the Yemeni people and offers us a collection of vignettes in which we learn about Eve's day-to-day life...The author also uses Eve's story as a platform to inform us about more serious matters, such as the plight of child brides, the true teachings of the Quran, gender roles, and female circumcision. Eve alternates between humor, hope, despair, bouts of depression, and resignation...A touching story of survival against the odds' - LYNDA DICKSON, Books Direct

`Ayoub’s talent for description and detail. From clothes, to traditions, to smells and sounds, the author’s descriptions of life in Yemen are — frighteningly at times — brought to life…Rich and descriptive, When a Bulbul Sings is an important book that candidly describes one girl’s harrowing experiences being forced into marriage and her seemingly unending drive for freedom. The book is well-written and well-edited. I highly recommend it to those fighting violence against women and girls, those who enjoy reading international women writers, and those interested in creative non-fiction and memoirs’ – KARLA J. STRAND; `Ms Ayoub has a way of setting an atmosphere that sucks you right into the hot, arid Yemen…The passages are beautiful poetic prose in motion. Uncle Suleiman, his wife, Adam and all the other colourful but bitter characters are complex and often we feel small twinges of sympathy for them…It deserves to be known by all and to be understood on more than just face value. I had finally found a book that could be a voice for not only people subject to being child brides, but anyone who has been sexually assaulted. And believe me, that is a lot of people that this book can provide healing to – much more healing than the #MeToo movement ever will’ – JENNIFER BARRETT; `This is one of the most gripping, harrowing stories I’ve read, and I could hardly put the book down. …Ayoub contributes clear teaching about child marriage...By giving us the full story from the child bride’s perspective, Ayoub moves beyond sterile statistics and conveys the true horror of the situation…I find this to be an impressive first novel. I enjoy Ayoub’s obvious love of words and language, and she’s a great storyteller. The story of Eve is powerful, and anyone who stands for feminism and justice will value When a Bulbul Sings’ – NEIL COULTER; `I am very, very impressed by Miss Ayoub's first novel…As a graduate student in Feminist Theory, I focused on women's movements in the Middle East, so When a Bulbul Sings was dealing with an especially powerful topic for me. And Yemen is a country where there remains a largely unreported narrative: the plight of women’ – JACLYNN JOSEPH; `Once in a while, a book comes along that is autobiographical and the contents stay with you for months and years afterwards. When A Bulbul Sings is one of those books…I absolutely loved this book, it was a heart-breaking read but an essential one. It’s a story that needs to be told, I don’t know statistics but I do know that girls are still taken `back home’ on the pretence of a holiday and not heard of again’ – KELLY AHMED; `I also appreciated the psychology of rape victims - it is okay if your body reacts during rape. A biological reaction does NOT mean that this is consensual sex. Especially if the victim is a child - that is NEVER consensual. The graphic descriptions of depression and Eve's emotions are very powerful…and it really highlights the quality of the writing. I'm not one who gets emotionally involved in every book that I read, but the writing is so genuine and heartfelt that I couldn't avoid getting sucked in’ – ERICA WHITE; `I found it multi-layered, engaging, and full of rich vocabulary…She gives us a fascinating glimpse into the lifestyle and traditions of the Yemeni people and offers us a collection of vignettes in which we learn about Eve’s day-to-day life…The author also uses Eve’s story as a platform to inform us about more serious matters, such as the plight of child brides, the true teachings of the Quran, gender roles, and female circumcision. Eve alternates between humor, hope, despair, bouts of depression, and resignation…A touching story of survival against the odds’ – LYNDA DICKSON, Books Direct

Author Information

Hawaa Ayoub, author of When a Bulbul Sings, has experienced the traumas of forced child-marriage first hand. She hopes to raise awareness through writing about child-marriage. She lived in Yemen for nineteen years, the first eight years in a remote region whose inhabitants hadn't changed their way of life since ancient times, in an area at the time inaccessible to outsiders including Yemenis from outside the region. When a Bulbul Sings is her first novel. She writes about forced child marriage in a bid to raise awareness to help towards ending child-marriage in Yemen and other countries where millions of underage girls are either forced or entered into marriage. Having gone through forced child-marriage to an adult, Hawaa Ayoub knows the child-bride not only suffers the traumas of rape and being rudely thrust into the adult world, but a child-bride can also live with the psychological, emotional and physical consequences throughout her life. When a Bulbul Sings is an objective story where the aim is to explain, highlight and criticise forced and child marriage.

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