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The End of my Life's Pain: A True Story of a Lebanese Child Bride

My name is Noha. I was born 1943 in Lebanon, a country that used to be known as the Switzerland of the Middle East. I am Maronite Catholic. I lived at the mercy of patriarchal and oppressive cultural and legal systems that continue to treat women as second-class citizens without any rights. My parents arranged for my wedding when I was 14 years old to my cousin 15 years my senior as a business partnership. He was a man who thought nothing of violating a young girl and abandoning her as she raised three children on her own. It is a tale of a victimized wife with three children whose chaotic lives were filled with lies, broken promises, and suffering."So begins the memoir of Noha, a child bride whose parents arranged her marriage to her cousin when she was 14 years old. Her innocence is stolen from her as she quickly realizes that marriage means more than having pretty clothes, high-heel shoes, and gold bracelets. We watch Noha grow up in a loveless marriage with a husband who was determined to shatter her spirit. Over the years, her life becomes embroiled in conflicts and trauma as she is left to fend for herself with no support from family nor husband. Noha’s honesty and vivid descriptions of her life take the reader on an emotional journey as she transforms from a victim to a force to be reckoned with. She realizes that in order for her and her children to live, she had to fight her family, her culture, and the Catholic Church to protect her and her children's rights. We watch as her rich family isolates and rejects her for refusing to obey. We find out that as inspiring as her empowerment journey was, it also cost her dearly.