Memoirs & Coffee Book Group to Discuss "Daring To Drive" 

Bernardsville Library’s book group, Memoirs and Coffee, will meet on Tuesday, January 23 at 10:30 am to discuss "Daring To Drive: A Woman’s Awakening" (2017) by Manal al-Sharif. [The author will not be present.]

The book is an intimate memoir by a devout woman from a modest family in Saudi Arabia who became the unexpected leader of a courageous movement to support women’s right to drive. Manal al-Sharif grew up in Mecca, the second daughter of a taxi driver, born the year fundamentalism took hold. In her adolescence, she was a religious radical, but by her twenties, she was a computer security engineer, one of only a few women working in a desert compound that resembled suburban America. That’s when the Saudi kingdom’s contradictions became too much to bear: she was labeled a slut for chatting with male colleagues, her teenage brother chaperoned her on a business trip, and while she kept a car in her garage, she was forbidden from driving down city streets behind the wheel.

"Daring to Drive" is a vivid story of a young Muslim woman who stood up to a kingdom of men—and won. Writing on the cusp of history, Ms. al-Sharif offers a rare glimpse into the lives of women in Saudi Arabia today. Her memoir is a remarkable celebration of resilience in the face of tyranny, the extraordinary power of education and female solidarity, and the difficulties, absurdities, and joys of making your voice heard.
No registration is needed to come to this free library program. Please call Bernardsville Library at 766-0118 for more information.