I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced

I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced tells the story of Nujood Ali, a Yemeni girl who is possibly the youngest divorcée in the world. Nujood published her biography, co-written with French journalist Delphine Minoui, in 2010, two years after her controversial divorce. The novel begins with an introduction to the country of Yemen and to Nujood’s story written by Delphine Minoui, the book’s second and adult writer. Minoui never specifies how she and Nujood co-wrote the book, so the reader is tasked with separating out Nujood’s thoughts and Minoui’s interventions throughout the work. Nevertheless, in the introduction, the voice is that of Minoui, who introduces us to a strange and wonderful country that has been fought over by outsiders throughout its history and is now marred by violence from within. Yemen’s beauty and wonder are contrasted with this violence as a backdrop and as crucial context for Nujood’s tale. This tale is not told chronologically, so the reader jumps back and forth in time throughout Nujood’s early childhood, her move to the city of Sana’a, her marriage, her divorce, and her post-divorce life.

The novel begins with the young Nujood at a courthouse in Sana’a.