Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed

Amal Unbound, a novel by Aisha Saeed, is a wonderful book about protesting injustices. Amal, the main character, lives in a village in Pakistan. She goes to school, does chores around the house, and plays with her sisters. However, one day after her mother gives birth to another baby girl, she starts to feel sick and Amal has to take care of the family. Sadly, a few days later Amal accidentally talks back to the village landlord, Sawad, and he takes her away to his mansion to become his servant. Until Amal is able to pay off the debt and return to family and home, she must learn the hardships of being a servant and try to free herself from his evil reign.

The one fateful day she was brought to Sawad’s home, she was buying a pomegranate and reached for the same one at the same time as Sawad she grabbed it first and Sawad tried to take it, but Amal refused. A few days later, Sawad went to Amal’s house to take her away from her beloved family and into the cold darkness of his home.

Thankfully, Amal was assigned to be the servant of Nasreen Baji, Sawad’s mother, who was quite a lot nicer than her son. They could even relate to each other, she used to live on the other side of Amal’s village and the chatted about the village, Amal telling Nasreen about life as it is now and Nasreen told her about it during her time.

One day, however, Amal finds out about more of Sawad’s bad deeds and realizes that he has done something far worse than she ever imagined and there’s nothing she can do except stay quiet as a servant for Nasreen Baji. But Amal is determined, determined to find a way to expose Sawad and fight for her freedom.

I loved this book because Saeed pours all the characters emotions into you and makes you want to fight for Amal’s freedom along with her. Sadly, injustices like this doesn’t only happen in books. It happens all over the world from the place you’re reading this book review to the other side of the world. An example of this is that as of 2018, male soccer players get paid nearly quadruple the amount female soccer players earn. This is never going to change unless you believe it can change and do something to help, to help make the world a more equal place.