Nawal El Saadawi has been pilloried, censored, imprisoned and exiled for her refusal to accept the oppressions imposed on women by gender and class. In her life and in her writings, this struggle against sexual discrimination has always been linked to a struggle against all forms of oppression: religious, racial, colonial and neo-colonial. In 1969, she published her first work of non-fiction, Women and Sex ; in 1972, her writings and her struggles led to her dismissal from her job. From then on there was no respite; imprisonment under Sadat in 1981 was the culmination of the long war she had fought for Egyptian women's social and intellectual freedom. A Daughter of Isis is the autobiography of this extraordinary woman.

The gift --Allah and McDonald's -- The cry in the night -- God above, husband below -- We thank God for our calamities -- Flying with the butterflies -- Killing the bridegroom -- Daughter of the sea -- My revolutionary father -- The lost servant-girl -- The village of forgotten employees -- God hid behind the coat-stand -- The ministry of nauseation -- Dreaming of pianos -- To the circus -- The singing man -- The whiskered peasant -- Uncles, suitor, and other bloodsuckers -- A stove for my mother -- Coming to Cairo -- The long, strong bones of a horse -- Love and the hideous cat -- Art thieves -- Mad aunts and abandoned babies -- The house of desolation -- The secret communist -- Wasted lives -- Cholera, ageing and death -- The Qur'an betrayed -- British English and Holy Arabic -- The name of Marx -- The brush of history -- Living in resistance.

Aiso Library Women's History month selection