In fact, many of her qualities seem to contrast, yet they also complement one another. This is the very thing that builds her depth. This inner understanding also means that they are in the driving seat of their own life, as we’ll see next. 9. You take full responsibility for yourself Mir grew up in the city of Bradford and she tells me that her family is from Karachi, but of Kashmiri origin. She has fond memories of school holidays spent at her maternal grandmother’s house in PECHS in Karachi (at this point in the conversation we digress slightly as we both share our memories of Tariq Road and PECHS and Silver Spoon kebab rolls and so on).

Valentish is a British woman who has lived in Australia for many years, and those countries have a different language for treatment than America.A compelling blend of the sociology, psychology and physiology that drives female addiction, seasoned by the author’s self-serrating humour and remarkable skill.’ —Professor Marc Lewis, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto. Author of The Biology of Desire (2015) and Memoirs of an Addicted Brain (2011) So how does Saima Mir think the Pakistani community is going to react to her debut novel The Khan’s depiction of a criminal syndicate run by Pakhtuns, who also happen to be pious Muslims? I love books about alcoholism, addiction, and mental illness. I am a recovering alcoholic myself so I especially gravitate towards books on that subject written by women. This book is a little different than the typical memoir that a recovering alcoholic writes. This book DOES tell Jenny's story (her life, her addiction, her recovery, etc.) but that isn't what the meat of this book is in my opinion. This book goes into a lot of detail on issues that particularly women struggle with during the process of recovery and alcoholism. - issues that a lot of books like this don't go into such as hormonal issues that women addicts might go through. There are a lot of facts, statistics, etc. that are very interesting.

Women, Valentish says she heard time and time again while researching the book, are also more likely than men to abuse drugs and alcohol as a means of self-medicating the symptoms of mental illness.

Valentish does a fantastic job of covering addiction through the lens of gender and does not espouse a one-size fits all approach. Highly recommend. Read: Steph Harmon, ‘‘Mine is not a hedonistic tale’: Jenny Valentish on trauma, addiction and the women left behind’, Guardian Australia, June 8 2017.