Daughter of Dust

Daughter of Dust

Growing up an outcast in the desert of Sudan.

A beautifully crafted memoir, Daughter of Dust offers a unique insight into what every day life is like for women in Sudan. It tells the true story of Leila Aziz, a Sudanese orphan who overcame adversity and went on to establish her own charity for adult orphans who face discrimination.

Born in Khartoum, Sudan in 1969 Leila Aziz understood from an early age that she was not part of normal Sudanese society. Her parents were unable to care for her and so she was banished to a strict orphanage, along with children born outside marriage.

At school, Leila and her best friend Amal were called 'daughters of sin'. Her pretty sister, Zulima, was married off to a much older man, because as an abandoned girl she was considered lucky to get an offer of marriage at all. At the age of ten, both Leila and Amal endured female circumcision.

Despite suffering appalling prejudice, and being thought to bring the 'evil eye', Leila ramined outgoing and brave and managed to get an education. She went on to marry, have four children, and divorce, but even as an adult she continued to feel the stigma of being abandoned. Undaunted, Leila founded her own charity to help those shunned as outcasts and today she continues to work tirelessly to dispel prejudice.

This beautifully written, graceful memoir perfectly evokes the heart and colour of the North African desert and tells of the true friendships that are born out of adversity.

Wendy Wallace has an interest in Sudan that goes back over twenty five years. She made numerous trips to Sudan as a journalist in the 1980s, writing mainly for the United Nations and development agencies. She met Leila Aziz in 2006 while making a BBC Radio 4 piece about Khartoum's abandoned babies.

Daughter of Dust
Simon and Schuster
Author: Wendy Wallace