On 19 May 2014, as seventeen-year-old Reshma Qureshi left home for the examination centre, everything happened in a flash. The men rushed towards her. Grabbed her. Tugged at her hair. Poured acid on her face. Soon she started to burn like a living corpse. The acid ate through her skin and aimed for her bones, but it could not quell the fire in her heart.

It lifted Reshma from tragedy and suffering and propelled her to New York, where she made global headlines by becoming the first acid-attack survivor to walk the runway at the New York Fashion Week. Now an international anti-acid-sale activist, vlogger, model, and the face of Make Love Not Scars, Reshma works tirelessly towards empowering other acid-attack survivors like herself and has become a beacon of hope for millions.

Inspiring and life-affirming, Being Reshma is the extraordinary story of a young girl from the slums of Mumbai, who overcame insurmountable odds in an unjust world and dared to change it.

‘I have waited a long time to share my story with the world, and it is finally happening! Thank you to my co-writer Tania Singh, and thanks to Pan Macmillan India, for letting me tell it from the heart. My great wish is that it lends courage to those like myself, and to all my readers and well-wishers.’ RESHMA QURESHI

‘Reshma’s memoir is an important story of courage and hope that will resonate with all those who have battled oppression and violence. As she recounted her journey from childhood to acid attack, from suffering to global recognition, there is one thing that stayed with me: the passion in her voice, to rise above hate, to make a meaningful difference. We are so proud to be publishing her brave, moving memoirs.’ TEESTA GUHA SARKAR, Senior Commissioning Editor, Pan Macmillan India

Reshma Qureshi is an Indian model, vlogger, and anti-acid activist. She is also the face of Make Love Not Scars, an NGO that works towards rehabilitating and empowering acid-attack survivors.

Tania Singh is the CEO of Make Love Not Scars. She lives in New Delhi.

Praise for BEING RESHMA

‘Reshma’s story of suffering and survival is also a wonderful triumph of the human spirit, highlighting this young woman’s remarkable determination to turn tragedy and despair into a powerful movement for change’—SIR RICHARD BRANSON

‘Reshma Qureshi’s strength and determination to reclaim her life, and, in doing so, to become a global beacon of hope is truly inspirational’—JOHN SWINNEY

‘Reshma’s story is a must-read for everyone … There is much to learn from her inspirational life’—SACHIN TENDULKAR

‘Being Reshma is a powerful story of courage, perseverance and triumph … A significant achievement and a compelling read’—SHASHI THAROOR

‘A wake-up call to fix the abysmal state of medical care in India, and the deeply entrenched insensitivity, of hospitals, and even of celebrated doctors’—KAVITA KRISHNAN

‘A powerful memoir. Tragic, haunting and inspiring’—KESHAV SURI