Rating: 
Summary: Just What is Needed..
Review: .. by people involved (I think). That's because Islam is mostly portrayed negatively by the media, particularly when it comes to women!
I could only imagine how families, especially the mothers, react to the conversion. They surely care and want the best for the daughters. However, it is a long and difficult process to let them go on the path they choose, no matter how well-meaning the families are.
This book provides some explanation to the Faith and the Practices - the concepts and reasons. I suppose if would help the family make sense of it all, in order for all parties involved (the daughter, her husband, and her original family) to understand each other.
Carol Anway and her Muslim daughter, Jodi, did a study based on a survey where questionnaires were answered by 53 American women from different background and age who converted to Islam. The feedback was used to identify the common problems faced by them and their families, as well as the workarounds that could be useful to others.
Carol also speaks from her own experience. The book gives suggestions to the families on how to arrange for things, how to accept the changes, and how to accomodate for the "different" needs. It also provides suggestions to the Muslim daughters (and the husbands) on how to maintain good relationships with the families.
I think this is a very useful book for those in the situation. And for the rest of us who care - it's simply enlightening and interesting!
Rating:
Summary: purpose of this book is for women's voices to be heard!
Review: As one of the "Daughter of a different path" myself, I understood the reading to NOT be a scholarly text on women's issues in Islam, but more of a message board for Muslim converts and their parents to just tell their story. The purpose of the book is to allow Muslim converts to relate with the stories, and for non-Muslims to listen to them. Some readers may not agree with the views expressed by the Muslim women in the book. However, the author is a devout Christian and obviously created this book to not preach Islam but to just publish a piece that reflects the views of women converts of Islam. I fully appreciated the purpose and outcome of this book.
I did not give the book five stars because, as mentioned in other reviews, it had a very "cut-and-paste" feel to it.
Rating: 
Summary: Every Muslim woman should read this book.
Review: I am not a converted Muslim, but as a Muslim who lives in this society, I could relate to the majority of the experiences of this book. I finished this book cover to cover in three days, because I could not put it down. There were parts where I had to look away from the text, because I could not read through my tears, however. It is a wonderful book that brings the reader into the lives of the women whose stories are being told. For anyone interesting in learning about real, true, practiced Islam-- this is definately one of the first books you should read.
Rating:
Summary: Islam a way of life
Review: I chose to reads this book many yrs ago and found the stories well written and expressed. I am an Afrikan american woman who chose islam in the early 80's after a visit to a Mosque in Washington, DC. I have learned that it was the arab influence into Afrika which brought islam to being in that part of the world and for that I am grateful.I am now an Attorney living in Washington, DC again and Islam has never been better than during these times of world disorder. MTEsq.
Rating:
Summary: Informative and Useful
Review: I have been a muslim for over 6 years and found this book to be very
interesting. I understand how non-muslims and Americans feel about
Islam because I am an American and was once christian. I have read
this book many times. My friends from Arabia have even found this book
useful. As a white American woman converted to Islam I struggle very
day for acceptance and understanding from a very narrow minded society
that views Islam as backward and barbaric. If more would pick up this
book or the Koran, then maybe they would have a better understanding
of Islam and mulsims. It should be know that not all muslims converted
as a direct cause of a man and that no one can be forced to convert to
Islam.
.... Great book and a good read.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent text providing a fresh viewpoint of Islam
Review: I own and have read this book, and I love it very much. I plan to donate it to my local library soon. It is the personal narrative of a Christian woman who details her struggle to come to terms with her daughter's conversion to Islam. Interwoven into this narrative are personal accounts of American women who converted to Islam.
The negative aspect of this book is that the personal accounts of those women is not complete. Mrs. Anway only selected the material that suited the direction of her narrative. There is not enough about the personal experiences of the Muslim women themselves. It's in bits and pieces scattered throughout the text.
But overall, I would definitely recommend this book for those of Christian background, who have a loved one that has become Muslim.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect for Non-Muslim Family of Converts
Review: I purchased this book for my mom (a christian) to help her understand peoples reasons for conversion. Of course, I read it first...this book was very helpful to me. Sometimes as converts we feel very lonely. We spend a lot of time dealing with people from other countries, and hardly ever meet American converts. This book reminds me that I'm not alone. It reminds me, and reinforces my reasons for conversion. I have just given it to my mom, so I don't know how it helped or (or not) but I really believe it will open her eyes a bit...inshallah (God willing). GREAT book for muslims and non muslims.
Rating: 
Summary: not accurate
Review: Odd how this book doesnt tell the truth abotu Hajib and the restrictions put on women in islam. For instance nowhere in this book is it discussed that the Koran encoruages men to beat their wives and that women are not permitted in Mecca or permitted to leave the house without the permission of a man or to be alone with an unrelated man. This book is simply a false text simed at converting women by telling only the prettiest and best picture.Seth J. Frantzman
Rating:
Summary: WOW
Review: Oh, I loved this book so much. This was not shocking or filled with cruelity like many of the other ones about Islam by women writers are. Even though I LOVE books that are exciting and mysterious and filled with terror etc, this book was one I could believe in every word. I am so glad you wrote this to show the calmer more beautiful side of ISLAM. I guess though that if Muslim women wrote stories about Christian Crusaders, murdering and plundering and there was no books to show the other side that people would believe only the bad. Anyway all the Muslim books I have read either talks about Murders and Mayhem or Racial stuff. In this book, it talked about maybe the reality more than the shocking stuff. Still although I love a bad ending, this book made me cry for the mom and for the daughter as they went through many trials that not only brought them closer but taught many valuable lessons about jumping to conclusions. I love it! My little library of books about Islam and Muslims is finally getting some good ones in it too. LOL I have to go. My time is up on this computer or I'd keep telling you more that I liked in this book.
Rating:
Summary: A book I'd like to give my mom
Review: One review called this book "SAD", another "INACCURATE" and I think what is truly sad and inaccurate is the attitude that these reviewers displayed. It is clear to me that the problem they have is not with this book but with the religion. The point of this book is to show how families of women who converted to Islam have been affected by their daughters' choices. It is not meant to justify or criticize these choices - just to present them as food for thought and discussion. I think it is the author's hope that her book will open doors of understanding between those daughters and their families so that they can do what families do best - give each other unconditional love and support. A particular strength of this book is that the women who responded to the survey represent a broad sample of women converts to Islam. I think this is an important contribution because it helps to break the stereotype that women converting to Islam do it only because of their husband's coercion or because they are "lost souls". The book shows that between the two extremes there are many intelligent and open-minded women who have independently chosen the path of Islam. The only reason I did not give this book 5 stars is because I felt there could have been more input from Muslim women in the *analysis* of the responses. At times it felt like the book was kind of a cut and paste job, with the author's comments here and there. I think it would also have been a better book had Anway gotten a broader range of input from Islamic scholars on the doctrinal information that she included. I felt that she presented Islam as having a rather narrow/definitive system of beliefs - and those familiar with Islam know that there is a great deal of variation among the scholars and the believers. In fact, the responses to her survey clearly show that the "other path" chosen by these women is not one path, but many paths going in the same direction.
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