The pearl that broke free from its shell

In Afghanistan, freedom only has a male name.

Rahimà is one of five daughters in a family without a son - a real curse in Kabul, where women are forbidden to leave home without a male companion. Their only hope is the ancient custom of bachè push, according to which she will be raised as a boy until it is time for her to marry. Suddenly, the streets, the school, the market - a whole world that has been forbidden to her - opens up before her. But this freedom, obtained under someone else's name, cannot last forever.

A hundred years earlier, her great-great-grandmother Shekiba was also forced to fight the cruelty of fate. Disfigured, rejected and without protection, she ended up in the palace in Kabul, where she became a guard in the royal harem.

The two stories intertwine in a powerful novel about women who are doomed to silence but refuse to be just silent shadows. In a world where freedom belongs only to men, Rahimà and Shekibà fight for the impossible - the right to choose their own destiny.

„The pearl that broke free of its shell“ is a lyrical and heartbreaking novel about submission, inherited pain and that sweet freedom that, once tasted, can never be forgotten.