The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq by Dunya Mikhail
The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq, is, outwardly, a story of a beekeeper who risks everything to rescue Daesh women from torture and enslavement. While the beekeeper is a central figure, it becomes abundantly clear that the real focus of the story is on the women, themselves.
Poet and journalist Dunya Mikhail, through a series of interviews with various women escapees from the clutches of Daesh (ISIS), presents an unflinching account of tragic events. The reality of what they’ve endured is haunting: sexual abuse and assault, loss of family and friends, psychological torture, forced labor and murder. Mikhail highlights their perseverance, bravery, and strength in the face of such hardships.
In 2014, ISIS invaded northern Iraqi villages to pillage its land and murder its citizens. The men who refused to convert to Islam were killed while women and children were forced into slavery. Abdullah, the beekeeper, made money selling honey in Iraq and Syria while cultivating a deeper understanding of the land. He uses this knowledge to build an escape network for the enslaved women and their families. Later, Abdullah became a bridge between Mikhail and survivors willing to share their stories.
Raw and poignant in equal measures, The Beekeeper elicits a sense of hope for the future that originates from the kindness of strangers and fosters recovery and healing. The details of each woman, these ordinary heroes — in the words of its publisher — provides “a counterpoint to Daesh’s genocidal extremism: hope, as ordinary people risk their lives to save those of others.”
Dunya Mikhail, an Iraq-American writer born in 1965 Iraq, first worked for the Baghdad Observer as a journalist; however, as a result of threats from Iraqi authorities, she fled her country for Jordan, and eventually the United States. She often writes about her experiences of growing up in a country ravaged by war and violence. Mikhail has been recognized by the Kresge Fellowship, Arab American Book Award, Griffin shortlist, and UN Human Rights Award for Freedom of Writing. Her first novel, The War Works Hard (2005), was listed as one of the 25 books to remember by the New York Public Library in that same year.
For scheduled events and book signings visit the author’s website, dunyamikhailpoet.com. The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq will be released on March 27th.
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