Description

Triumphant and uplifting – a queer Muslim memoir about forgiveness and freedom.

‘Revolutionary’ Mona Eltahawy * ‘Exquisite, powerful and urgent’ Stacey May Fowles * ‘I fell in love with this book’ Shani Mootoo

A memoir of hope, faith and love, Samra Habib’s story starts with growing up as part of a threatened minority sect in Pakistan, and follows their arrival in Canada as a refugee, before escaping an arranged marriage at sixteen. When they realized they were queer, it was yet another way they felt like an outsider.

So begins a journey that takes them to the far reaches of the globe to uncover a truth that was within them all along. It shows how Muslims can embrace queer sexuality, and families can embrace change. A triumphant story of forgiveness and freedom, We Have Always Been Here is a rallying cry for anyone who has ever felt alone and a testament to the power of fearlessly inhabiting one’s truest self.

Publisher Review

Thoughtful and compassionate...deeply invested in a passion for life and the pursuit of personal * Diva Magazine * A fiercely intelligent memoir * NB Magazine * A testament to the power of storytelling, self, and reclaiming our own narratives, We Have Always Been Here is a fantastic memoir. I felt as I turned each page as if I were walking beside Samra as she told me each step of the story. A commitment to testimony, to telling our own stories in our own ways, resonates at its core, as well as love - for people, for community, for self. * Nadine Aisha Jassat, author of Let Me Tell You This * Habib speaks for a community that has often been muted, but writes with a voice and style that is all her own * Rachel Giese, author of Boys * I fell in love with this book . . . In prose as economical, crisp, clear, and truthful as poetry, Samra Habib offers a map of how we might learn to see and treasure one another and ourselves * Shani Mootoo, author of Cereus Blooms at Night * A beautiful telling of a life, of love, of the reclamation of power, of feeling truly seen, and of finding your way home. An exquisite, powerful, and urgent book * Stacey May Fowles, author of Infidelity * To say I count, I exist, is revolutionary when you are denied complication. Habib has written the book she wished she had when she was young. It is a book we should all have had long ago * Mona Eltahawy, author of Headscarves and Hymens *