The below memoirs were all published in 2021 and took my breathe away.

I feel so grateful that these books landed in my lap, I am more because I read them. When reading these memoirs, apart from the not breathing much part, I often had to stop to remind myself that these are true stories. This happened and is happening! They share their stories, not just for themselves but for the thousands of voices that won’t get heard.

Hope Not Fear by Hassan Akkad

This book has changed my life. On the front cover of this book, it reads “finding my way from refugee to filmmaker to NHS hospital cleaner”, and yes my eyes were opened to the brutality of the situation that refugees are escaping and the incomprehensible sacrifices that people are making on a daily basis when leaving their families, friends, lives and homes behind.

Hassan’s story is one of thousands and I was recently at a talk where he was asked “why him?” Why does he think he became what Hassan says himself the poster boy for the refugee crisis and you only have to read this book to know why. Hassan is full of love and hope that screams through the pages of his memoir. He’s honesty is breathtaking and life changing for anyone reading. Hassan talks about being afraid but then continues to step head first into his fears including I’m sure writing this memoir.

Hassan is not just a refugee; he is a person who struggles with his mental health, who struggles like a lot of Londoners do with having a lack of community, he understands that relationships are the most important thing in life over everything. But most of all he is a person who doesn’t just talk about change, he takes action and that is the reason why we all have a lot to learn from Hassan Akkad.

What It Feels Like For A Girl by Paris Lees

A book I’ve mentioned previously on my blog but needed a mention here also as a must read memoir from 2021. Paris Lees again writes with such honesty and bravery. It’s an addictive and shocking read about Paris’s former life as a boy, Byron, and her coming of age in the early 00s battling bullies, unsupportive parents to say the least and time in a young offenders institution. But this is also a story about hope and passion and being truly uniquely yourself regardless of the world trying to make you otherwise.

Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford

A book I picked up randomly when I realised I didn’t have a book to read while travelling recently and I am so glad I did. Ashley’s writing is so stunning that I really hope she writes fiction moving forwards too but wow what a story she needed to tell first. Her story.

Ashley’s father has been in prison her whole life and her mother is difficult and demanding. She searches for unconditional love and ends up being sexually abused and with no where to turn. Ashley discovers what her father did to end up in prison and suffers her mothers terrifying mood swings and yet still has a heart that can love these people because these people are her parents.

I want to read this again and again because Ashley’s observations are so profound and her spirit is so alive through the pages.

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What is so amazing and also wild about the world we live in today is that I was able to look up all of these authors on Instagram and start following them in real time. The words in their memoirs came to life through small squares on their Instagram grid but it also made me realise even more how little we can really say through social media. This is why I encourage you to read read read!

by Lottie Murphy Tingman