Guest House for Young Widows

Guest House for Young Widows by Azadeh Moaveni is shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction and has been recognised as a Guardian and Observer Book of the Year.

In early 2014, the Islamic State secured its control over Raqqa in Syria. It was then that ISIS's leader, Baghdadi, called upon Muslims globally to join the caliphate. Witnessing the brutal oppression of the Assad regime in Syria prompted thousands of men and women to heed his call for justice.

At the core of Guest House for Young Widows is a group of unforgettable young women. Coming from urban families, some were still in school, while others held university degrees with personal libraries filled with novels by Jane Austen and Dan Brown, and many harboured cosmopolitan dreams of travel and adventure. Instead of finding a land of justice and piety, they found themselves caught within the most brutal terrorist regime of the twenty-first century—a domain of chaos, upheaval, and violence.

The book poses challenging questions: What is the line between victim and collaborator? How do we judge these women who both endured and inflicted intense pain? What is the role for Muslim women in the West?

In what promises to be a modern classic of narrative nonfiction, Moaveni takes readers into the school hallways of London, kitchen tables in Germany, coffee shops in Tunis, and the caliphate's OB/GYN and its 'Guest House for Young Widows'—where wives of the fallen awaited remarriage—to reveal that the problem known as terrorism is far more complex, political, and relatable than widely acknowledged.

'In concise, visceral vignettes, Moaveni immerses her readers in a milieu saturated with the romantic appeal of violence. The result is a journalistic tour de force that lays bare the inner lives, motivations, and aspirations of her subjects.' Starred Review - Publishers Weekly

'Eloquent, empathetic, insightful—and essential reading. A book which goes beyond slogans and stereotypes on a journey into a world we know too little about, in an attempt to understand young women whose stories startle and sadden.' - Lyse Doucet, BBC Chief International Correspondent