Agunmukhar Meye

"I’ve always admired Nurjahan Bose, but it wasn’t until I read her book last year that I realised she has an incredible life story. Although she’s feisty, she’s not a showy person, nor very well-known. She’s not a leader of a particular organisation, but she’s taken part in every street-based movement and she’s well respected by activists. Bose was born in a village in Bhola, southern Bangladesh. She writes about how she was perceived by the village community as being different because she wanted to study and make her own choices. After completing her secondary school studies, she went off to Washington and obtained a masters in social welfare from a Catholic university. Although a Muslim, she married a non-Muslim, a very well-known economist called Swadesh Ranjan Bose,who had to flee Bangladesh in 1975 following a military coup. Bose doesn’t write about patriarchy explicitly, nor in analytical terms, but in describing her story, which includes accounts of incest in the village and sexual harassment from a Catholic priest, she brings out every aspect of patriarchy, whether globally, nationally or at village level. But she is a fighter and always overcame it. Bose returned to Bangladesh when her late husband developed Parkinson’s, and she later began working in her village to improve the lives of the women. This book ought to be translated to English, though it must be the right translation."