Poppies on the Rocky Ground is a powerful memoir and documentary narrative that traces the life and struggles of a Kurdish woman in Iranian Kurdistan across decades of political repression, armed resistance, exile, and survival. Written by Golrokh Ghobadi, one of the early Kurdish women to join the Peshmerga, the book offers an intimate, first-hand account of women’s participation in resistance movements often erased from official histories. Blending personal memory with collective testimony, Ghobadi recounts experiences of political activism, imprisonment, displacement, motherhood, and loss, while documenting the everyday courage of women living under authoritarian and patriarchal systems. Her narrative moves between the private and the political, revealing how women’s bodies, emotions, and relationships become battlegrounds in times of conflict. More than a personal memoir, Poppies on the Rocky Ground is a work of historical witness. It preserves the voices of women whose lives unfolded in silence, on the margins of recorded history, and affirms their role as active agents in shaping Kurdish political and social life. Written with clarity, honesty, and emotional restraint, the book stands as a testament to resilience, solidarity, and the enduring power of women’s resistance.