Written by: Niroshini Mather
Welcome to the QWOCC Book Club!
Each month we will be sharing a book related to our monthly themes that shares stories about or written by women of color.
Historically, women’s book clubs were more than just a gathering of friends to share opinions on favorite characters or plot twists. Rather, book clubs began as a covert way for women to actively engage in topics like religion, science and other subject areas declared to be outside of the domain of a woman’s interests. Even after they became increasingly normalized, black and brown women continued to be excluded from literature and conversations surrounding it.
Through the QWOCC book club we hope to amplify the stories of women of color authors and point women of color readers towards literature that may be more relatable and reflective of their own experiences.
For the month of February our book is: A Good Wife: Escaping the Life I Never Chose.
About the Book:
At 15, Samra Zafar had big dreams for herself. She was going to go to university and forge her own path. Then with almost no warning, those dreams were pulled away from her when she was suddenly married to a stranger at 17 and had to leave behind her family in Pakistan to move to Canada. Her new husband and his family promised that the marriage and the move would be a fulfillment of her dream, not a betrayal of it. But as the walls of their home slowly became a prison, Samra realized the promises were empty ones.
Desperate to get out, and refusing to give up, she hatched an escape plan for herself and her two daughters. Somehow, she found the strength to not only build a new future, but to walk away from her past, ignoring the pleas of her family and risking cultural isolation by divorcing her husband.
A Good Wife tells her harrowing and inspiring story, following her from a young girl with big dreams, through finding strength in the face of oppression and then finally battling through to empowerment (Harper Collins, 2019).
Questions to think about while you are reading:
1) How has the story impacted your perception of relationships – with your partner, your family and yourself?
2) What do you think motivated the author to share her story?
3) Over the past few years, many culture commentators have suggested we are witnessing a “memoir explosion”. Why do you think this genre has become so popular, for both readers and writers?
4) Overall, what was your biggest takeaway from hearing this author’s story?
You can find the book here:
https://www.amazon.ca/Good-Wife-Escaping-Never-Chose/dp/1443454869/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= or try your local library
You can find the eBook here: https://www.amazon.ca/Good-Wife-Escaping-Never-Chose-ebook/dp/B074DTY1X1
You can also check out Samra Zafar’s Ted Talk here:
Happy Reading!
QWOCC 