Thrust onto the public stage at 15 years old after the Taliban’s brutal attack on her life, Adult Third Culture Kid (ATCK) Malala Yousafzai quickly became an international icon known for bravery, resilience and her struggle to secure education for all, especially for girls and refugees.
But away from the cameras and crowds, she spent years trying to find her place in an unfamiliar world.
Yousafzai’s new memoir “Finding My Way” is a story of friendship and first love, of anxiety and self-discovery, of trying to stay true to yourself when everyone wants to tell you who you are.
In it, Yousafzai traces her path from high school loner to reckless college student to a young woman at peace with her past.
Through candid, often messy moments like nearly failing exams, getting ghosted and meeting the love of her life, Yousafzai reminds us that real role models aren’t perfect — they’re human.
“I’ll never know who I was supposed to be,” she writes. “Maybe everyone feels that way, curious about the invisible cross roads in their lives, the wrong turns and chance encounters that change everything. But I am haunted by it, the gulf between how I imagined my life and what it became. I can’t escape the feeling that a giant hand plucked me out of one story and dropped me into an entirely new one.”
In her memoir, Yousafzai reintroduces herself to the world, sharing how she navigated life as someone whose darkest moments threatened to define her — while seeking the freedom to find out who she truly is.
I can’t escape the feeling that a giant hand plucked me out of one story and dropped me into an entirely new one.
“Finding My Way” is an intimate look at the life of a young woman taking charge of her destiny — and a deeply personal testament to the strength it takes to be unapologetically yourself.
The memoir is available this week on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and anywhere else books are sold.
