Showing Travels in a Veil: A Journey into the Lives of Islamic Women by April Fonti

I bought a headscarf to cover my short and spiky hair... and so begins the story of a young woman arriving in Peshawar, a volatile city on the border of Afghanistan.

It is 1998, little is known about this part of the world and she is just a backpacker who has wandered off the beaten track. Within days she will meet Shaheen, a charismatic Iranian man who will introduce her to a world of Muslim refugees, feminists, activists and women living in the most severe seclusion.

But is Shaheen the man he claims to be, and can a young western woman find a picture of Islam she can trust?

'Travels in a Veil' tells the brutal story of one woman exploring a new vision of Islam through the stories of nine extraordinarily diverse women.