Promising Azra is my first novel. It was inspired by an article in the Australian in 2012, about Dr Eman Sharobeem’s work in preventing the forced marriages of Sydney teenagers. Until I started my research for the book, I was unaware that child marriage is a growing issue in Australia, the UK, the US, and in many other countries around the world.

According to Girls Not Brides, each year 15 million girls are married before the age of 18. Child marriage happens across countries, cultures and religions. I wanted to explore how this might manifest in an Australian context, and to better understand how to support girls who don’t want to be married. Read more.