A novel by Aneeta Prem
Cut Flowers
A story about friendship, bodily autonomy and the right of every girl to be protected.
Katie and Sophia are looking forward to the summer holidays when a school assignment sends their lives in different directions. What begins with ordinary questions about family, travel and friendship gradually opens a difficult subject: female genital mutilation and the responsibilities adults have to protect children.
The story
Let the reader meet the girls before asking them to confront the issue.
The novel begins in the recognisable world of school, friendship and summer plans. Its emotional purpose is to create enough distance for readers to care about the characters first, then encounter questions of bodily autonomy, secrecy, family pressure and child protection through the story.
That literary distance can make a difficult safeguarding conversation possible without singling out a pupil, family, faith or community.
The principle
A child should not have to understand every word for an adult to recognise that she may be afraid.
Cut Flowers supports age-appropriate discussion of FGM, bodily autonomy, safe and unsafe secrets, trusted adults and the responsibility to act when a child may be at risk.
Schools and professionals
Education must protect children, not stereotype them.
FGM education should sit within a school’s safeguarding framework. Staff should know how to respond to a concern, avoid assumptions about individual pupils or communities and make clear that responsibility lies with the adults who cause or enable harm. Current lesson plans and professional resources should be linked only after their status is confirmed.
Book sales
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Copies bought through Freedom Charity support its charitable purposes. Aneeta does not personally profit from those book sales.