Girls of the River

Girls of the River

by Saira Ishaq

They burned her beauty.

They tried to erase her name.

But she came back—with scars, with silence, and with fire in her heart.

Seventeen-year-old Zulekha survives an acid attack on her wedding night, only to be cast out by her own family and ignored by the law meant to protect her. Homeless and disfigured, she finds refuge in a hidden women’s shelter where every girl carries a wound the world refuses to see. When hope seems lost, Zulekha begins to teach others to write their names—and claim their stolen voices.

Girls of the River is a raw and unforgettable story of pain, survival, and defiance. Inspired by real-life accounts of violence against women, this powerful novella dares to ask: What happens when a girl who was supposed to disappear learns to speak—for herself, and for those still in the dark?

She was never meant to return.

But the river remembered. And so will you.