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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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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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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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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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

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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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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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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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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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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