Girl (2019) by Irish writer Edna O’Brien is a harrowing portrayal of the abduction of schoolgirls by an extremist religious group.

The story is inspired by the April 2014 kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls, mostly Christian, by the Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram. Edna O’Brien travelled to Nigeria to conduct research for her novel, research which included speaking to some of the girls who escaped.

In Girl, the fictional narrator, Maryam is kidnapped, and later married off to a Boko Haram soldier. Having his child complicates the eventual return to Maryam’s own village.