Emotional
Heartbreaking
Brilliantly written

This is a book that you won’t forget. I haven’t stopped thinking about this since the very last page

This is a true crime story about an honour killing. It is very well written and made me feel sad. This book will stay with me for a long time.

Well written but such a sad and harrowing story. I can not believe this happened in the UK. Unbelievable that family can do this and think its acceptable. So sad and unforgettable true story.

I was familiar with this case as it featured on an English crime documentary. I did find it a depressing read, the control and lack of freedom as a female felt suffocating and the crime itself just beggars belief.

This was a hard book to get through at times. Never because it was a bad book, just because it is so hard to know parents can treat children this way. Bekhal and her sisters went through so much. It was so much insight into the strict Muslim culture. Bekhal is such a brave, strong woman. Thank you for sharing your story.

A remarkable book!! Bekhal Mahmod was one of six siblings from a Sunni Muslim family in Iraqi Kurdistan who sought a new life as asylum seekers and arrived in London in 1998. When Bekhal's father tried to force her into an arranged marriage at 15, she ran away. This caused her father to ‘lose respect’ within the Kurdish community and Bekhal became the target of an honour killing and her younger sisters Banaz and Payzee were quickly married off to restore the family's reputation. When Banaz left her husband, claiming he'd beaten and raped her, Mahmod decided this 'shame' to the family meant Banaz must die. Within weeks, she had vanished. Her body was later found in a suitcase, buried in a garden in Birmingham. Banaz had been raped and killed in a sickening plot orchestrated by her father and uncle. Bekhal Mahmod became the first female in British legal history to give evidence against family members in an honour killing trial, and won justice for Banaz. Bekhal has a new identity under a witness protection program. She lives in terror of her father’s release from jail. This is her story. Well worth a read!

The true story of Bekhal Mahmod and her sister Banaz and the shocking family life that led to their father and uncle planning their murders. This was a powerful and brutal read, it made me feel all of the emotions, horror, disgust, sadness, I was absolutely shocked at what these poor girls have had to go through and I had goosebumps throughout! No one should be treated this way! Good for Bekhal to get her story out there! These things should not be happening in this day and age and hopefully awareness can help other victims to seek help.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is an absolutely heartbreaking read and one that I think that more people need to read (although please look up trigger warning first). It depicts the horrifying abuse that Bekhal faced at the hands of her own father and the murder of her sister in 2006 who was killed simply for loving a man that her family didn't approve of. It was not an easy read but it's not a book that should be an easy read as what Bekhal and Banza went through wasn't easy.

I start writing this with tears in my eyes… this was such a hard book to read to imagine that there are girls that live this way today… yes I know the events in the book toke place between, 1985 to 2007 and somewhat to the present day… but this sort of things is still happening, and most girls afflicted by this don’t reach out, don’t run away, like baby sister Banaz they only search for help when they are at their end of the road, or simply disappear, because no one really cares for them… and if the authorities are afraid to help because they are in risk of sounding islamofobics, we need new laws that put honour killings and honour punishing aside in modern countries (ideally in the world but one can always dream) and really permit the authorities to dig in, in the private lives of these close communities and protect these women and sometimes man as well…

You hear how things happened to Bakha and you think, how could this possibly be real, how could a family tread like this a daughter, such hard core beatings, calling a child a whore, the FGM was completely horrifying… yes, when you start reading this book grab a box of tissues, you will need it…

I highly recommend this book for the fans of true stories, true crime and of human rights, its very hard to read but we cant let this kind of stories die, or let them be silent, because knowing this can help the next victim.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion.

Not an easy read, but an important and powerful one to get out there. And an heartbreaking one as well: Berkhal and her sisters had a brutal, oppressive upbringing and horrific lives. I can't believe the extent their misogynistic family went to. I profoundly admire Berkhal's courage for testifying against her family in the "honour killing" (it chills my blood writing these words) trial and for writing this book and advocating for all the women who still must endure this kind of treatment in certain cultures. I would recommend this book to anyone, this is a book that has to be read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of, No Safe Place, by Bekhal Mahmood; Hannana Sissiqui. Wow, this was not an easy read, knowing its a true story. Bekhal is an inspiration, and a strong survivor. I have never understood honor killing, or what people to their children.

This book was so insanely good. I just gave birth in April so I needed something like this to re-center myself.

A cry of grief for a beloved sister, an indictment of a culture that seems to despise women, a cautionary tale against rebellion, or a view of a dysfunctional Middle Eastern family ...you pick. This highly emotional first person narrative about an "honor killing " is all of that.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
Wow, what a messed up culture this author's family is from. How horrific the things she saw and experienced. This book is definitely an eye-opener into the strict Muslim culture.
I'm so happy justice was served and really hope Bekhal is doing well.

This may have been the toughest memoir/true crime book I have ever read. The things the girls in this family went through are absolutely atrocious and the behavior of their male abusers and relatives is equally as vile. For the crimes they committed, it seems like they barely received a slap on the wrist. The story is of Bekhal Mahmood's sister so called "honor killing", but is also a story of Bekhals life of abuse and of escaping it physically but never being able to escape it mentally. I urge everyone that can to read this book, and see that these things still happen today.

Bernal Mahmod was the sister of Banza. Banza as people may know is the girl found stuffed into a suitcase and buried in a garden in Birmingham. The perpetrators of the crime were her family she had been killed to protect their honour.

The author has described in graphic details the trauma of growing up with her father the evil punisher. There was so much brutality in that household that no person should ever have to go through. This is a tough read child abuse both mental and physical. Female genital mutilation. Child brides and the ultimate honour killings.

It also goes to show that for Bekhal there were many missed opportunities at the times when she reported things to the police , schools and the council. None of her claims were taken seriously perhaps if they had of been Banza might still be alive.

This is a powerful read that should be given to all. It would be especially good to be used in safeguarding training so people can understand what girls from some communities have to go through.
Thank you Bekhal for sharing your story. If I could I’d give you a massive hug. I hope that you will find your happiness. You have done so much for other women by speaking out.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to see an ARC

Bekhal Mahmod, originally from Iraqi Kurdistan. Due to her family and culture, she and her sisters had a horrifically abusive childhood. She ran away at 15 instead of facing an arranged marriage to her cousin. This act of defiance caused to father to 'lose respect' within the Kurdish community, she became a target of an 'honour killing' and her younger sisters Banaz and Payzee were quickly married off. Banaz later left her abusive husband so her father and uncle arranged her murder. Bekhal became the first woman in British legal history to testify against her family in an honour killing trial. She now lives in the witness protection program and is always looking over her shoulder.

This was not an easy read Bekhal and her sisters' childhood was brutal and oppressive. Her anger at many of her family members and of her misogynistic culture seeps off the page. This made me so anger for Mekhal, for Banaz, for all the women in the world who've gone through this bullshit, and still do.

This is a very important story to get out there. The world needs to hear the true horrors of what life is like for some women in cultures like this.

I feel hugely emotional having finished this story. The incredibly honest and open narrative humbled me greatly and it was superbly well written, harrowing and incredibly poignant.
The bravery of the writer really shines through in her writing and the horrors of what she has lived through and the love for her sisters and even the family members who severely wronged her or at least, let her down was so evident.
I feel enlightened and horrified at some of the loopholes and failings that allowed the events to progress, unchallenged, as they did and completely respect the campaigning and awareness the co-authors bring with this book.
Very brave of you to share. Thank you.

This is a very moving and startling book about the personal experiences of the author being raised in an incredibly abusive family, coupled with unbearable cultural traditions such as honor killings. For most readers, it's going to be an eye-opener and a glimpse into a world we know little about.
I'm struck by the author's honesty as she feels pulled in two directions. She wants to belong to her family so badly that she inevitably sabotages her escapes until the wrong doing is not to her, but to her beloved sister.

A sad sad story that will affect the author her whole life. There is no total escape or happy ending here. One can only hope that time and awareness will put an end to this kind of horrific abuse. Thank you to the author for being brave enough to tell her story in her own words.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. I hope it is very very widely read.

Firstly thank you Netgalley for this ARC

Oh wow this was a hard book to read True story and how could a family want to kill siblings to get respect and honour. Heartbreaking