Author(s): Bariz Shah

NZ - Biography | Recent arrivals: Non-Fiction

What does it take to find hope in dark places and change the course of your life?
When Bariz Shah's family immigrated to New Zealand, they couldn't have predicted that everything would change after 9/11. Still only a child, Bariz became the target of racist abuse and bullying, and responded the only way he knew how: by fighting back.
Caught in anger and hatred at the world - his school, his family, the soldiers invading a country his parents fled as refugees - Bariz spiralled into drugs and crime and found himself in prison at age 18. But there he rediscovered himself in faith, discipline and inspiration, and he found the strength to silence the devil on his shoulder.
Years later, Bariz had turned his life around and was leader of the Canterbury University Muslim Students Asssociation when a gunman walked into the local mosque and took 52 lives of people Bariz knew and loved. Grieving and thrust into a position of leadership, Bariz reflected on hate, hope and positive change.
Beyond Hope is an extraordinary and intimate memoir about refusing to let society limit your potential, finding purpose in dark places, and shifting your path to help others, even when things feel beyond hope.