Having experienced firsthand the horror of female genital mutilation (FGM), Soraya Mire reveals the personal violation and immense challenges she overcame. This book is at once an intimate revelation, a testament to the empowerment of women, and an indictment of the violent global oppression of women and girls. This forthright narrative recounts what it means to grow up female in a traditional Somali family, where girls' and women's basic human rights are violated on a daily basis. Forced into an arranged marriage to an abusive older cousin, Mire was also witness to the instability of Somalia's political landscape--her father was a general in the military dictatorship of Siad Barre. In her journey to recover from the violence done to her, Mire realizes FGM is the ultimate child abuse, a ritual of mutilation handed down from mother to daughter and protected by the word "culture." Despite the violations she endured, her words resonate with hope, humanity, and dignity. Her life story is truly one of inspiration and redemption.