Desert Children
by Waris Dirie

Virago £6.99

A successful model in the Eighties, Waris Dirie is now far more distinguished by her work on eliminating female circumcision or, as she less euphemistically terms it, female genital mutilation. Having recounted in previous books her own severe mutilation as a child in Somalia, Dirie's objective in Desert Children is to show that the practice is not only a problem in those African countries where it remains customary, but also among Africans living in Europe, with an estimated 500,000 European women subjected to or at risk from this irreparable and sometimes fatal procedure. Dirie travels through Austria, Germany, France and the UK to meet fellow victims, humanitarian lawyers and even doctors willing to perform the illegal operation, her determination illuminating the unremittingly bleak subject matter.