From the guardianship system, which places unmarried women under the full control of their male relatives, to the secretive online underground network of Saudi runaways plotting their escape, Rebel is a gripping memoir of resistance and bravery by a woman determined to tell the truth about life in the closed kingdom. Now Rahaf tells her remarkable story for the first time and reveals the dystopian reality of what life is like for women within Saudi Arabia. This was Rahaf's chance at a new life, the one she had dreamed of. Her account gained forty-five thousand followers overnight and offered her a vital lifeline. Now she has written a book Rebel, which explains why she was so. It was a trick, and soon she found herself trapped, barricaded in a hotel room.Īs men pounded on her door, the teenager decided to reach out to the world on Twitter - and the world answered. Happily for Mohammed (she dropped her family name of al-Qunun), Canada soon offered her asylum. But the eighteen-year-old only made it as far as Bangkok before her passport was taken away. If caught, she was sure she would be killed, like other rebel women who had tried to flee her country's oppressive regime. In early 2019, after more than a year of careful planning, Rahaf Mohammed boarded a plane and finally escaped from Saudi Arabia. Moving from Rahaf's early days on the underground online network of Saudi runaways, who use coded entries to learn how to flee the brutalities of their homeland, to her solo escape to Canada, Rebel is a breathtaking and life-affirming memoir about one woman's tenacious pursuit of freedom.A gripping true story of bravery and sacrifice by a young woman whose escape from Saudi Arabia captivated the world. Raised with immense financial privilege but under the control of her male relatives?including her high-profile politician father?she endured an abusive childhood in which oppression and deceit were the norm. Now Rahaf Mohammed tells her remarkable story in her own words, revealing untold truths about life in the closed kingdom, where young women are brought up in a repressive system that puts them under the legal control of a male guardian. The teenager reached out to the world, and the world answered?she gained 45,000 followers in one day, and those followers helped her seek asylum in the West.

As men pounded at the door of her barricaded hotel room, she opened a Twitter account. If forced to return home, she was sure she would be killed, like other rebel women in her country. In early 2019, after three years of careful planning, Rahaf Mohammed finally escaped her abusive family in Saudi Arabia?but made it only to Bangkok before being stripped of her passport. A gripping memoir of bravery and sacrifice by a young woman whose escape from her abusive family and an oppressive culture in Saudi Arabia captivated the world A gripping true story of bravery and sacrifice by a young woman whose escape from Saudi Arabia captivated the world.

Rahaf rebel