Finding My Way by Malala Yousafzai review growing up in public

"She's told her story before, most notably in I Am Malala, co-written with Christina Lamb and published in 2013, the year before she won a Nobel peace prize. Finding My Way picks up the story of her life as she navigates young adulthood. In Birmingham, her secondary school classmates largely ignore her, but Malala studies hard and wins a place at Oxford a dream come true."

"She joins the rowing team, signs up for a plethora of clubs, and stays out late dancing with her roommates, all while keeping up with the international speaking engagements that pay her parents' mortgage. She has little time to do any reading, let alone turn in assignments on time. Her tutors send her increasingly stern letters. But she does find time to fall in love."

At 15, Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by a Taliban assassin and lay in a Birmingham hospital imagining a conversation to persuade Taliban leaders to end misogyny and violence. She kept a notebook with rhetorical strategies, potential journalistic contacts, Qur'an verses supporting girls' education, and arguments establishing her Muslim credentials. She later recognized the naivety of expecting the Taliban to listen. She moved through young adulthood in Birmingham and then won a place at Oxford. At Oxford she joined the rowing team, participated in many clubs, balanced late nights with ongoing international speaking engagements that subsidized her parents, struggled with tutors' expectations, and fell in love with Asser, who encouraged her interests.

Read at www.theguardian.com