Eight women tell their stories - using their own words - stories of the unseen fallout of the war on terror in Britain. These are stories of real women, from cultures as varied as Palestine, Senegal, Jordan, Libya, St John's Wood, and the English Midlands. They all came to the UK as refugees, or married refugees here. After 9/11 the world they loved here vanished almost overnight. One after another they were engulfed by isolation and private terror.

VICTORIA BRITTAIN is a former associate foreign editor of the Guardian. Her books include Hidden Lives, Hidden Deaths and Death of Dignity. The Meaning of Waiting was inspired by her experiences reporting on the 'war on terror'.