The women of Afghanistan, living in a country long plagued by war and displacement, have also had to struggle with a form of cultural and religious oppression that makes life immeasurably more difficult. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism severely curtailed women's rights. Mary Smith offers a unique insight into the lives of these women before and just after the Taliban's rise to power. Working in the country with a small health organization, often spending months alone in remote villages-especially Mazar-i-Sharif and Hazara Jat-she met women who became her friends and with whom she shared hopes and tears. Many of the women she met worked outside their homes, pushing the boundaries of their traditional cultural roles. The courage these women showed in reaching out to grasp hold of the threads of personal freedom was extraordinary. Knowing that the Taliban would sweep away all that they had struggled to gain makes their story all the more poignant.
Mary Smith was born on the island of Islay, Scotland and grew up in Dumfries & Galloway in south west Scotland. She worked for Oxfam in Lancashire for ten years. She later spent ten years working in Pakistan and Afghanistan, firstly for the Pakistan Leprosy Control Programme based in Karachi followed by establishing a mother and child health care project in the Hazara Jat region of Afghanistan and the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
After returning to Scotland she worked as a freelance journalist while writing her first book, Before The Taliban: Living with War, Hoping for Peace. This narrative non-fiction account of her time in Afghnaistan lets the reader meet some of the ordinary Afghan women and their families with whom Mary worked.
Her second book, No More Mulberries, also set in Afghanistan is her first novel.
Mary's years in Afghanistan - often working in remote rural areas - allows her to bring a high degree of authenticity to her work.
Mary Smith is now a freelance journalist while working on her second novel and first poetry collection.
For more information on Mary's journalism, poetry and other projects visit her website at www.marysmith.co.uk
