Yasmin Azad was among the first group of girls in her Muslim community in Sri Lanka to go away to university. Stay, Daughter draws on her experiences growing up in a close-knit, conservative society which had to deal with the challenge of reconciling the rules of Islamic orthodoxy with the freedoms and innovations of the modern world.

Soon after obtaining a degree in English from the University of Ceylon, Yasmin moved to the United States, and has recently retired from her job as a mental health counsellor.