“As the incident flashes through my mind I know I can’t hide it from her, because deep down I’m scared that if I do, the dust will settle and it’ll feel like it never happened…just like the times before. Despite feeling so angry with Adam whenever he did anything like this, I could never stop the memory of it fading away in just a few short days, sometimes the very next day. I fought to keep hold of it, to remind myself of how awful he’d been, to help me hold him to account and not just blindly accept his grovelling apologies. But no matter how hard I tried, the severity of his words and actions would dissipate and take my shock and anger with it, until there was no longer anything to tell…and life would go on as normal.”
The Checklist
He Loves Me Not follows the intertwined fates of Yasmine and Ines, two British-Moroccan women who fall in love with and marry men who end up being their abusers.
Ptissem is a British-born Moroccan writer, working on her debut Own Voices Novel.
Ptissem worked in Sports TV Production for over 10 years before re-training as a Life Coach, helping clients to overcome their emotional struggles and challenges and realise their full potential. Her work as a coach gave her the opportunity to write about themes such as domestic abuse, spirituality and emotional well-being, as well as writing marketing copy for fellow coaches. This re-ignited her childhood love of writing and storytelling, and inspired her to begin working on her first novel.
Her writing has appeared in The Muslim Vibe and Amaliah. Her six-part memoir series The Domestic Abuse Diaries published by Dina Tokio, was highly praised and inspired her current writing project. She can be found on Instagram @ptissem.abourachid
Ptissem won the 2023 TLC Pen Factor Award with her manuscript, developed with her AWW mentor Abigail Fenton.