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A House in the Sky
- A Memoir
- Narrated by: Amanda Lindhout
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
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A House in the Sky
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Publisher's Summary
Amanda Lindhout reads her spectacularly dramatic memoir of a woman whose curiosity about the world led her from rural Canada to imperiled and dangerous countries on every continent, and then into 15 months of harrowing captivity in Somalia - a story of courage, resilience, and extraordinary grace.
At the age of 18, Amanda Lindhout moved from her hardscrabble Alberta hometown to the big city - Calgary - and worked as a cocktail waitress, saving her tips so she could travel the globe. As a child, she escaped a violent household by paging through National Geographic and imagining herself in its exotic locales. Now she would see those places for real. She backpacked through Latin America, Laos, Bangladesh, and India, and emboldened by each experience, went on to travel solo across Sudan, Syria, and Pakistan. In war-ridden Afghanistan and Iraq she carved out a fledgling career as a TV reporter. In August 2008, she traveled to Mogadishu, Somalia - "the most dangerous place on Earth" - to report on the fighting there. On her fourth day in the country, she and her photojournalist companion were abducted.
An astoundingly intimate and harrowing account of Lindhout's 15 months as a captive, A House in the Sky illuminates the psychology, motivations, and desperate extremism of her young guards and the men in charge of them. She is kept in chains, nearly starved, and subjected to unthinkable abuse. She survives by imagining herself in a "house in the sky", looking down at the woman shackled below, and finding strength and hope in the power of her own mind. Lindhout's decision, upon her release, to counter the violence she endured by founding an organization to help the Somali people rebuild their country through education is a wrenching testament to the capacity of the human spirit and an astonishing portrait of the power of compassion and forgiveness.
What listeners say about A House in the Sky
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Christa Unruh
- 2019-10-12
Heartbreakingly beautiful
Amanda’s story is unfathomable, heartbreaking, and enrapturing. I found myself consumed with her story, waiting on every moment, praying for her, and feeling as though I was a silent bystander in her many rooms willing her to be free.
I HIGHLY recommend reading/listening to this book, it will touch your heart deeply.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kim
- 2018-09-20
Riveting
a very difficult story for Amanda to live write and read. it was so interesting how it was like fiction and hard to believe it was a true story! highly recommend!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2021-11-27
Incredible Book
Wow! I finished this book in less than a week… it was an honour to listen to Amanda’s story. Beautifully read and written. Completely moved by her strength and her ability to forgive.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kari Noonan
- 2023-08-17
Left me wanting to be a better person
Beautifully written! I was there with Amanda as she told me her story, I couldn’t walk away from this book. I was humbled over and over again by Amanda’s spirit, true grit. I will follow her foundation with hopes to make a small impact on the world in my own way someday.
Born and raised in central Alberta myself, I’m incredibly proud to share the earth with an incredible soul like Amanda.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- vanessa
- 2019-08-27
Incredible true story about resilience
Did I cry? yes. Will you cry too? yes. Do I still recommend it? absolutely.
Can't even begin to comprehend how she was able to survive mentally. I think this story opened up new ideas in my mind about the human brain and resilience itself. So many powerful moments in this book. I was recommended by a friend and I continue to recommend it to others.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Crystal McLeod
- 2019-04-24
Dark, But Insightful
I cannot deny, this book was a pretty scary read with graphic and disturbing content. As a woman who likes to travel, I learned a lot and can empathize with Amanda's story. The story also leaves me with a lot of questions about white privilege, politics, international affairs, and feminism, challenging my current views of the western world.
The book delivers in presenting Amanda's story of being a hostage in southern Somalia for 460 days, but I was surprised by how much background the book provides as well. Readers learn about Amanda's life from young childhood to present day, which does give helpful and interesting context to her experiences in Somalia. Definitely interested in reading Nigel Brennan's book Price of Life, as I am sure he has a different perspective than Amanda.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Billie Helps
- 2023-12-10
endurance
the story was absolutely captivating. how anyone could keep hope up during this type of pain and loneliness is unbelievable. I would have liked more of an update on how Amanda was doing a couple of years after being home and did she ever contact Nigel or him her.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kristin D
- 2024-02-08
hard to listen to but so inspiring
Amanda shouldn't have gone to Somalia, but she paid for it dearly. her suffering and torture was really hard to hear about but I was so amazed by how she used her mind to get through it. thank you for sharing your story with us Amanda!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Alan Bryce
- 2020-02-08
Harrowing true story of survival and courage
This is an extremely well written story of 15 months of captivity and torture of two young travellers at the hands of Islamic extremists and demented individuals. I high recommend it as a story of endurance, survival, hope and in the end, Love. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know the unvarnished truth about how some people act in the most evil ways and excuse it through religion and others who overcome it all through the strength of their inner character and determination to survive.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2018-01-28
Read for School, Loved for Story
I started reading this book for a book review assignment in my Victimology class. Poor Amanda was a victim of sexism, heartbreak, racism, and kidnapping, beatings galore and overall fear and determination. I loved the pictures she painted of far off places, places I have never been but now I feel that I have the jist of. Her story is tragic and exciting, nail biting and luxurious, I would recommend this to any other Criminology major in Canada, as My eyes have been opened. Criminological activity in Canada is so different from places such as India and Afganistan, and it would do us some good to be educated on that.
Thank you, Amanda, for telling your story, its so important to know about whats going on in the world, even if we aren't directly affected. Amanda is a brave and courageous woman, her voice never quivers recalling the horrible events, and I admire her for that.
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