Defiance

“Defiance takes my breath away. A nail-biting tale of astonishing courage.”
—Jeannette Walls #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle

“An anthem against patriarchy and authoritarianism everywhere.”
—Javier Zamora, New York Times bestselling author of Solito

“An unforgettable chronicle of the spirit.”
—Anand Gopal, author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist No Good Men Among the Living

A stunning memoir of personal rebellion and political awakening from a young woman raised to be loyal to a brutal regime—and the unimaginable cost of choosing freedom

Every day at school, Loubna Mrie pledged allegiance to Bashar al-Assad. His portrait hung over every blackboard, and her textbooks reminded her that without the president, Syria would fall into chaos. Her family, part of the Alawite minority that ruled the country, revered him. Her grandfather helped bring the Assads to power; her father, a formidable businessman with close ties to the regime, ruled their household with absolute authority. In her world, loyalty was survival. Dissent was betrayal.

But everything changed in 2011, when the Arab Spring reached Syria and Loubna stumbled into an anti-government protest. What she witnessed—the courage, the blood, the brutality—ignited something in her that would not be extinguished. She joined the resistance, fearlessly proclaiming her Alawite identity to show that unity was possible and risking her life as a photojournalist documenting the war for Reuters and other international outlets. Her defiance would come at a devastating cost: the loss of loved ones, the community that now considered her a traitor, and ultimately her country itself. Leaving behind everything she knew, she would have to find a new home within herself.

Defiance is the unforgettable account of one woman’s fight for freedom—against a dictator, a father, and the weight of inherited belief. From the streets of Aleppo to exile in New York City, it offers an electrifying portrait of moral courage in a time of unimaginable violence. Told with clarity, fury, and grace, Defiance offers a rare ground-level portrait of what it means to wake up, to resist, and to become.

Author Biography

Loubna Mrie is a Syrian journalist, photographer, and writer. A frequent commentator on Syrian and Middle Eastern affairs, her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, The Intercept, and The London Review of Books, among others. She has received fellowships and residencies from the Magnum Foundation, New America, and MacDowell.