Dishonoured

Book excerpt: Sofia Hayat is beautiful, talented and successful with appearances in feature films, television shows, commercials and modelling campaigns. Yet it is what lies behind Sofia's glamourous life and glittering career that makes her life story so compelling and inspirational. Sofia's childhood was worlds away from her current, free-spirited life. Growing up at the heart of a Muslim family, above her parents' corner shop in Kent, she was forced to comply by the strictest of rules - her father forbade her from having friends and, if she was caught talking to boys, she would suffer severe, often violent, consequences at his hands. But the lowest point of her childhood came when she learned she was to be forced into an arranged marriage - the thought of being trapped in an empty, loveless union tipped Sofia into attempting to take her own life and instigated a spate of self-harming. Her chance to break free finally came when she won herself a place at university, where she experienced for the first time the freedoms that most young women in Britain take for granted. Her new life revolved around partying and meeting men, something that had been forbidden by her parents. Her experimentation with sex, however, resulted in death threats from her own family and, in a shocking twist, her own parents kidnapped her and an honour killing loomed as her family believed that her behaviour was tarnishing their image. In spite of the efforts of her family to thwart her bid for freedom, thanks to her strength of mind and conviction, Sofia continued to follow her dream of becoming an actress, eventually moving to London to embark on her career.