This seems singularly apt. Though not a happy story, and indeed horrifying in more ways than I can articulate, it's a story about courage, and determination in the face of unimaginable opposition.

The piece is called Malala Yousafzai: I have the right. (Those of you familiar with the name will know that this is a story involving violence against a young woman, and bravery beyond measure, for those of you who aren't yet familiar with it, read on...)

Because this is a real person, I'm being cautious with the trigger warnings, and include them for bullying, child abuse, misogyny/sexism and violence towards women.



Not just BASED on a true story, but an ACTUAL true story

Found on tumblr, but originating at this remarkable blog. ZenPencils.com, which I would recommend a trawl through.















Needless to say, my admiration for this young woman is off the scale, serisouly read that wiki, she was posting a BBC hosted blog about life as a girl under Taliban rule at the age of 11... 11 mark you, and she gets progressively more awesome from there.

I'm putting her in with the "Favourite female character" tag not to compare her to any fictional character (which would diminish her absurdly), but because there's no other tag which is even halfway appropriate.