ISBN: 978-1-4767-6330-9 You've seen these spunky and loving women on Duck Dynasty, and you know that they are the beautiful wives of the quirky RobertsISBN: 978-1-4767-6330-9 You've seen these spunky and loving women on Duck Dynasty, and you know that they are the beautiful wives of the quirky Robertson men, but you don't know much about who they are as women or what goes on when the cameras are turned off and the production crew has gone home. Are they really who they seem to be - down-to-earth, sincere, commonsense, loving wives and mothers? Do the women really get along and support one another? Do they truly love their families as much as they seem to on the show? Are their children actually as respectful as they come across? And do they really have the sense of humor that viewers have come to love? In the pages of this book, you'll find the answers to these questions and much more. The five leading ladies - Miss Kay, Korie, Missy, Jessica, and Lisa - share their hearts and thoughts on the spiritual foundation that guides their lives. In a section titled "Happily Ever After Can Take A While," they reveal some of the difficulties and challenges they have faced. And they share how each one became a Robertson and talk about the myths regarding their motives for marrying into the family. The wives of these beloved characters share precious stories about thier love for Phil and Kay - with chapters titled "Oh, Kay!" and "Getting Our Phil" - as well as what life in the limelight is really like. You'll learn about all their children, their own parents and grandparents, and what made these strong women of substance the spirited characters you've come to love. Each of these women love God first above all else and raise their families up on His word. God first, family second, and everything else comes after that. All of the women have a huge amount of love and respect for Miss Kay and Phil and can't say enough about their faith in God, their willingness to share with anyone whether you're rich or poor, fat or thin, black or white, or just need a listening ear and some helpful advice. All the daughters-in-law lay their cards on the table, no holds barred and bare their souls for us to see the "real" family the way we've always wondered. The questions you've always wanted answered will be done in this book. I read it one sitting as I couldn't put it down it was that interesting. The Robertson's are quite the clan and I wish them much continued success. They strive to live in a way that we've lost over the past many years. No foul language, no smut, or dirty talk...just good clean, faithful fun. Their families are very important to them and they strive to keep them together and running as a well oiled machine. You won't be disappointed in this book and I highly recommend it for everyone. ...more
MY REVIEW: Penguin Group Canada|June 17, 2014|Hardcover|ISBN: 978-0-670-06820-3 Five-year-old, Saroo wanted to be with his big brother and decided to taMY REVIEW: Penguin Group Canada|June 17, 2014|Hardcover|ISBN: 978-0-670-06820-3 Five-year-old, Saroo wanted to be with his big brother and decided to tag along to his job working the trains one day foraging for food and selling the toothpaste packs he had. Getting tired, Saroo sat down on a bench to wait for his brother to come back from somewhere but became restless and hopped on a train sitting in front of him on the tracks. Next thing you know he falls alseep and the train is moving! Saroo gets lost and remains lost for the next twenty-five years! After being placed with a couple of orphanages, Saroo was finally adopted by the Brierley family who lived in Hobart, Australia. He had a wonderful life with the Brierley family and bonded wtih them quickly. They shared many fun times over the years but, Saroo felt he was still missing something and made the decision to try and find his birthmother in India. Using 'Google Earth' of all things, Saroo spent many, many months searching through Google Earth using the "B" name of the town he could remember living by. Finally recognizing something he thought looked familiar, he got on Facebook where he'd met a guy who was supplying him with information and he was able to confirm the place, Saroo had found what he thought was his hometown. Soon, Saroo was on a plane flying off to India to reunite with the mother whom he hadn't seen in twenty-five years. This was a beautifully written memoir and I read it one sitting. It's impossible not to read this book in one sitting, you just have to keep turning the pages, the story just flows so well and is so interesting. Well-done, Saroo and congratulations on finding your family, may you enjoy many happy years together. ...more
MY REVIEW: Algonquin Books|August 19, 2008|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-1-56512-613-8 Carolyn Jourdan, an attorney on Capitol Hill, thought she had it madeMY REVIEW: Algonquin Books|August 19, 2008|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-1-56512-613-8 Carolyn Jourdan, an attorney on Capitol Hill, thought she had it made. But when her mother has a heart attack, she returns home to the Tennessee mountains, where her father is a country doctor and her mother works as his receptionist. Jourdan offers to fill in for her mother until she gets better. But days turn into weeks as she trades her suits for scrubs and finds herself following hazmat regulations for cleaning up bodily fluids; maintaining composure when confronted with a splinter the size of a steak knife; and tending to the loquacious Miss Hiawatha, whose daily doctor visits are never billed. Most important, though, she comes to understand what her caring and patient father means to her close-knit community. With great humour and great tenderness, HEART IN THE RIGHT PLACE shows that some of our biggest heroes are the ones living right beside us. Well, another book I read in one-sitting that I just couldn't put down. I love memoirs and this was a great read. I fell in love with Carolyn, she was so funny and felt so inept at her job and did actually screw up quite a number of things. She certainly wasn't cut out to be a receptionist and sticking to her job as a lawyer would be in her best intrest. lol The characters we meet in this story are also hilarious, although some are quite ill, the humour shines through anyway and Dr. Jourdan has such a calming and peaceful demeanor that he can keep the most tenuous situations under control except when it comes to his "tilting table!" Trust me, you'll love this memoir and before you know it you'll be turning the last page. I would like to see Carolyn pen a second memoir continuing with more stories and situations that she ran into while subbing for mother in the office. ...more
MY REVIEW: Seal Press|October 19, 2010|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-1-58005-334-1 Jessica O'Dwyer is the adoptive mother of two children born in Guatemala,MY REVIEW: Seal Press|October 19, 2010|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-1-58005-334-1 Jessica O'Dwyer is the adoptive mother of two children born in Guatemala, Olivia and, Mateo. Jessica and her doctor husband went to hell and back trying to get their daughter out of Guatemala. It wasn't the most pleasant experience of their lives. Dealing with corrupt people, knowing who to trust and who not to trust was one of their biggest hurdles. From lost documentation to cover-ups it didn't seem as though this couple was ever going to get Olivia home to America. The strength and courage they showed in the face of adversity and threats was humbling. Jessica eventually moved to Guatemala to live there with Olivia in the hope of expediting the process but it still took over a year to get her out of the country. The reading was riveting and I read this book in one sitting, it was an amazing story to say the least. I commend them both on their dedication, motivation, and stamina to stay with the program against all odds. No matter what was thrown up in their faces, they trudged on and found a way through the muck and mire. Exceptional memoir! ...more
MY REVIEW: HarperCollins Publishers|July 29, 2013|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-06-221883-4 In this story of perseverance in the face of adversity, ReginaMY REVIEW: HarperCollins Publishers|July 29, 2013|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-06-221883-4 In this story of perseverance in the face of adversity, Regina Calcaterra recounts her childhood in foster care and on the streets - and how she and her savvy crew of homeless siblings managed to survive years of homelessness, abandonment, and abuse. Regina Calcaterra's emotionally powerful memoir reveals how she endured a series of foster homes and intermittent homelessness in the shadow of the Hamptons, and how she rose above her past while fighting to keep her brother and three sisters together. Beautifully written and heartbreakingly honest, ETCHED IN SAND is an unforgettable reminder that regardless of social status, the American dream is still within reach for those who have the desire and the determination to succeed. The first word out of my mouth after turning the last page was "WOW!!" What an unbelievable memoir this is. The abuse that these children unendured at the hands of their supposed mother is horrendous, especially Regina for it is HER story. These were industrious children who thought of ways to stick together under the direst of circumstances, all they had was each other. I thought their idea of stealing food from the grocery store using the boxes was pretty ingenious, although stealing is not good at any time, but these kids were literally starving to death. The ideas they came up with to keep them together just blew my mind, stupid children they were not by any stretch of the imagination. I commend them all for their courage and bravery and feel sorry for what Regina endured at the hands of her mother. The beatings were relentless and unbelievably horrible. This is one memoir I highly, highly recommend and if I could award it 100 stars, I would! ...more
My Review: The Doubleday Publishing Group|February 18, 2014|Hardcover|ISBN: 978-0-307-73217-0 One woman's fight to provide hope for the hopeless... SevenMy Review: The Doubleday Publishing Group|February 18, 2014|Hardcover|ISBN: 978-0-307-73217-0 One woman's fight to provide hope for the hopeless... Seven ex-cons who changed her heart forever... For Brenda Spahn, entrepreneur and businesswoman, wealth was a lifestyle-until a brush with the law threatened to send her to prison. In those dark moments, Brenda made a promise to God. Spared incarceration, a renewed Brenda glimpsed into the lives of women serving time in one of the worst places in America-the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Alabama. What she saw prompted a God-inspired vision. With a heart to help and a will that couldn't be crushed, Brenda fought the system and overcame tremendous obstacles to take ex-cons into her own home and help them navigate the alien world of life on the outside. This is the story of Brenda's journey from rags to riches to redemption. It's the story of the first unlikely year of her "Whole Way House" and of the extraordinary lives of the first seven women who came to call her "Miss Brenda." It's a story that testifies to the power of faith and how God changes hearts every day. Brenda Spahn is a lot braver than I would have been to take on the women that she did. However, not only did Brenda teach these hardened and often unfeeling women how to be sensitive, society worthy human beings, they also taught Brenda more about herself and life than she ever knew possible. Brenda's whole outlook on life changed after spending time with her "Loveladies" and what a time it was. I read this book in one sitting as I couldn't put it down. I had no idea that Brenda's "whole-way house" even existed in the United States and have since been to their website and what a place it is! I can't believe the number of people she has rehabilitated. People who every one else had totally given up on and cast aside as mere garbage. Brenda offered them something they'd never had in their lives before and that was an unconditional love and a place to be heard and to be themselves without fear of judgement. This was an incredible story from the first page until the last and I'll bet any of you who choose to read about the "Loveladies", will also want to read it in one sitting! ...more
Story Description: ForWard Publishing|January 11, 2011|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-9789008-0-9 Ward Foley was born with multiple birth defects and very Story Description: ForWard Publishing|January 11, 2011|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-9789008-0-9 Ward Foley was born with multiple birth defects and very little chance to live. But he did, only to undergo decades of surgery, agonizing rehabilitation, ridicule, and humiliation. He was also severely burned in a deep fryer, beat up, and almost killed by a drunk driver. But that's not what this book is about. It turns out that each "scar" in his life brought Foley one step closer to the people and experiences that would give him what he wanted most. After the death of a close friend, Foley found himself entering the world of hospice care and a circle of people who had more to teach him than he ever imagined. You can be in the wrong place at the wrong time...a lot. In fact, your whole life can seem like one, big, wrong turn. But that's exactly what it takes to get you to the one place you want most. Lively and warm-hearted, full of dry humor and unexpected twists, THANK MY LUCKY SCARS is an exuberant look at what we all ultimately want from life and the story we have been handed. My Review: What a powerful book with a powerful message. Ward Foley was born with multiple birth defects and very little chance of living. He was born with: Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita also known as AMC; and clubbed feet and hands. Arthrogryposis means the joints are curved or crooked. Multiplex means it affects more than one joint, and Congenita means the condition is present at birth. Arthrogryposis means the person is born with contractures. This means some of their joints don't move as much as normal and can even be stuck in one position. Very often the muscles around the joints are thin, weak, stiff, or missing. Extra tissue may have formed around the joints, holding them in place. About 1 in 3,000 babies are born with AMC. Ward doesn't believe in beating around the bush. He just lays it all out on the line. He firmly believes that just because you are born with defects does not mean that even more bad things can happen to you because they can. For Ward Foley, it was like being born under a black cloud that followed him throughout his life. He was almost killed by a drunk driver, fell into a deep fryer, was beaten up by some cruel teenagers that he had been trying to help. It would have been so easy for Ward to just curl up in a ball, close the blinds, lock the doors and say to heck with the whole world. But, that's not what he did for Ward Foley is a positive and optimistic man with a deep faith in God and what He teaches us. Ward works with hospice patients, gives speeches to adults, teenagers, and school-aged children and passes along his powerful message of hope for the future, love, faith, and his belief in having the true grace of God Almighty. Ward's wit, humor and positive attitude is infectious and you'll find yourself grinning and snickering at what I term the "Ward-isims" throughout the book. You'll also love the "God moments" that Ward talks about where time and time again miraculous things happen. He doesn't try to cram anything down your throat he just tells his story like he was sitting across the table from you enjoying a cup of tea which is what makes him so endearing to those reading his story. Ward Foley is a great example to all us! Grab a copy of THANK MY LUCKY SCARS and pay attention people, pay attention. ...more
Story Description: Simon & Schuster|August 6, 2013|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-1-4516-2138-9 An award-winning memoir and instant New York Times bestsellerStory Description: Simon & Schuster|August 6, 2013|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-1-4516-2138-9 An award-winning memoir and instant New York Times bestseller that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery. BRAIN ON FIRE is the powerful account of one woman's struggle to recapture her idenity. When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she'd gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life; at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened? In a swift and breathtaking narrative, Susannah tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family's inspiring faith in her, and the lifesaving diagnosis that nearly didn't happen. "A fascinating look at the disease that...could have cost this vibrant, vital young woman her life" (People). BRAIN ON FIRE is an unforgettable exploration of memory and identity, faith and love, and a profoundly compelling tale of survival and perseverance that is destined to become a classic. My Review: Susannah's story is almost unbelievable, but it is real. It just shows how complex our brains really are and how quickly something unexpected can happen. During her month into hell, I wasn't sure she was going to make it out the other end. If it hadn't been for the dedication and devotion of one specific doctor she most likely would have lost her mind forever and never regained her self. The story was riveting to say the least and kept me glued to my seat. The medical jargon was explained in layman's terms so it was easy to understand exactly what was going on with Susannah each step of the way. I would highly recommend this book to friends and relatives. ...more
Story Description: HarperCollins|October 27, 2008|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-06-162642-5 The warm, wonderful, real-life tale of the family that brings Story Description: HarperCollins|October 27, 2008|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-06-162642-5 The warm, wonderful, real-life tale of the family that brings the Christmas spirit to life on a street corner in Manhattan. Every holiday season for nearly twenty years, Billy Romp, his wife, and their three children have spent nearly a month living in a tiny camper and selling Christmas trees on Jane Street in New York City. They arrive from Vermont the day after Thanksgiving and leave just in time to make it home for Christmas - and for a few weeks they transform a corner of the Big Apple into a Frank Capra-esque small town alive with heartwarming holiday spirit. CHRISTMAS ON JANE STREET is about the transformative power of love - love of parent and child, of merchant and customer, of stranger and neighbor. The ideal Christmas story, it is about the lasting and profound difference that one person can make to a family and one family can make to a community. A lovely, lovingly illustrated little gem of a book, this delightful tenth anniversary edition of a beloved Christmas classic tells the poignant, inspiring story of an unforgettable family and the warm, wide circle of friends who have welcomed them to the neighborhood. My Review: I can't really add much to the synopsis above that would tell you anything more other than to say the family learns a valuable lesson this particular Christmas. Especially the father. This was a really great feel good story and made for a perfect couple hours of reading. Highly recommended. ...more
Story Synopsis: "My name is Jasmine Bath and the memoir "No One's Daughter" is about my childhood during the 1960's and 70's. I did not write this bookStory Synopsis: "My name is Jasmine Bath and the memoir "No One's Daughter" is about my childhood during the 1960's and 70's. I did not write this book for sympathy or notoriety; I wrote it in an attempt to shed light on the ghosts that have haunted me for a lifetime, hoping that by putting them down on paper that I could look at them more objectively from a mature point of view and eventually free myself from them. I began writing about specific incidents that happened, attempting to write them in the voice of the little girl I used to be, hoping to understand how these incidents had managed to still affect me as an adult. In giving the little girl I used to be her voice, I found peace." My Review: Jasmine suffered unspeakable abuse at the hands of her mother and her string of boyfriends. One in particular, Earl, was especially cruel laying a beating on Jasmine that almost killed her. From a very young age, Jasmine was responsible for taking care of her siblings and the house, a job much too difficult for someone her age. She became the parent. Jasmine handled the subject matter with integrity and sensitivity. She is a survivor who deserves all the best that this world can give her. I experienced so many emotions while reading this touching memoir. I ran the gamut from smiles to tears to horror to anger. Jasmine's mother was such a cruel woman and how she could treat this beautiful child the way she did is beyond me. How dare she abuse her role as a loving, caring mother and turn it into an absolute horror show. Jasmine, you are a strong woman, a survivor and an example to many people around the world who have suffered some of the same abuse that you have that you can overcome the horrors of your past and move on into a brighter future. I thank you for having the strength and the courage to share your story with the world and wish you all the best in the future. ...more
With Marie-Therese Cuny Translated by Linda Coverdale
Washington Square Press|October16, 2007|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-1-4165-3229-3
IStory Description:
With Marie-Therese Cuny Translated by Linda Coverdale
Washington Square Press|October16, 2007|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-1-4165-3229-3
In June 2002, Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani woman from the impoverished village of Meerwala, was gang raped by a local clan known as the Mastoi – punishment for indiscretions alledgedly committed by the woman’s brother. While certainly not the first account of a female body being negotiated for honor in a family, this time the survivor had bravely chosen to fight back. In doing so, Mai single-handedly changed the feminist movement in Pakistan, on the world’s most adverse climates for women.
By July 2002, the Pakistani government awarded her the equivalent of $8,500 U.S. dollars in ischool for girls so that future generations would not suffer, as she had, from illiteracy.
In the rousing account, Mai describes her experience and how she has since become an agent for change and a beacon of hope for oppressed women around the world. Timely and topical, IN THE against exceptional odds.
MY REVIEW:
Makhtar Mai was gang raped in June of 2002 by a local caste called the Mastoi. She was gang raped as a punishment for her brother on account that he had committed a sexual act. Her brother was also sodomized. This unbelievable act of gang rape goes on all the time in Pakistan and Mukhtar says that every hour a woman is raped. Other punishments meted out to innocent women as punishment is the practice of throwing acid into their faces in order to scar them for life; horrific beatings and captivity; out-right murder; and setting women on fire.
These are the arcane and barbaric laws being upheld in Pakistan and Mukhtar has worked tirelessly to have these laws changed or abolished.
Her other project is in educating girls from the community and builds a school where they can learn to read and write so they don’t face the embarrassment of illiteracy like she had.
In July of 2002, the government of Pakistan gave her a cheque in the amount of $8,500 U.S. dollars as compensation money and sentenced her attackers to death.
Mukhtar Mai is an amazing woman who refused to curl up in a ball and stay silent. She came forward and decided to fight back. She told her story and took it to the courts – all the way up to the Supreme Court and even had meetings with the President of Pakistan.
IN THE NAME OF HONOR is a disturbing memoir, so hard to read some of the details that happen to these innocent women. It absolutely breaks your heart. But, Makhtar Mai’s response to the violence she endured had for far reaching affects for all women. And, not just the women of Pakistan but women around the world. I commend her for her dogged persistence in obtaining justice for herself and other women.
This was a fantastic read and only took me a couple of hours at just 179 pages. This is one memoir you won’t want to miss.
Random House of Canada|April 9, 2013|Hardcover|ISBN: 978-0-30-36279-7
Every mother teaches her children they shouldn’t judge a book bStory Description:
Random House of Canada|April 9, 2013|Hardcover|ISBN: 978-0-30-36279-7
Every mother teaches her children they shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but few mothers have had to live that lesson like Kristine Barnett. When, at the age of two, her son Jake received diagnoses that progressed from Asperger’s to autism, doctors, teachers, and therapists saw only the autism. Not Kristine. She saw a beautiful little boy and she simply could not accept the bleak life of limitations being projected for Jake. The Spark is a moving, terrifying and inspirational story of her courageous journey with Jake, a journey that is a testament to the ferocity of a mother’s love. Where others saw bizarre behaviour and emotional withdrawal, Barnett saw a spark in her son, an intelligence that just didn’t know how to talk to the world. Over the course of ten years she nurtured that spark with unwavering faith and a tenacity that is, in the truest sense of the word, awesome. And the child, who therapists said shouldn’t bother trying to learn the alphabet or tie his shoes, is now researching quantum physics at Indiana University, giving engaging interviews on TV and inspiring students to stop learning and start thinking. He is just 14. But this beautiful joyful book is so much more than the story of an exceptional mother and her genius son. In a voice that could be your neighbour, your sister, or your best friend, Barnett shows us how to see children, whether those with autisim or their non-spectrum friends, as she does – as unique people with infinite potential. She shows us that every child has a spark waiting to be discovered. If you are a mother, or have a child in your life, The Spark is simply the most compelling book you will read this year.
My Review:
The Spark was the most compelling and profound memoir I’ve read in a long while. Kristine Barnett is not only a genius in my opinion, but a superwoman with herculean stamina and an unbelievably powerful advocacy quotient to her personality.
After being told that her 2-year-old son, Jake had autism and would likely never talk or read or even tie his own shoelaces by the age of 16, Kristine refused to believe that. After allowing herself to grieve over the news she jumped on the bandwagon to get Jake the help he needed and hasn’t stopped to this very day.
Kristine ran a home daycare and had worked with children of various ages and various learning disabilities so she wasn’t totally blind coming out of the gate. After a great deal of reading and research about autism, Kristine and her husband, Michael engaged, Jake in every type of therapy available to them. Jake’s therapy schedule was so full that she would literally fall into bed each night totally exhausted.
With careful observation of Jake and what he did activity wise between therapy sessions gave her ideas on how to best help and advocate for her son. She figured out that most of the therapy focused on what Jake could “NOT” do, not on what he “COULD” do. This just didn’t make sense to Kristine and she soon found herself creating her own activities out of things she either made herself or bought. This set Jake up for a lot of successes and encouraged him to keep learning. Although, Jake had stopped talking, Kristine was still able to communicate with him through the activities they shared together.
Jake’s IQ was higher than Einstein’s had been and he had a photographic memory, and “taught himself calculus in two weeks!” At age 9, little Jake “started working on an original theory in astrophysics that experts believe may someday put him in line for a Nobel Prize. By the time, Jake was 12, he had become a “paid” researcher in quantum physics.
Without Kristine, Jake would have stagnated. She had earned that all the basic knowledge a child needed had to be acquired by the age of 5, so this gave Kristine 3 years to pull off a miracle.
After observing his boredom and further withdrawal from the world with the various therapists coming to their home each day, Kristine made a decision against the advice of the therapists and even her husband, Michael. She pulled him out of therapy and began preparing him on her own for full mainstream kindergarten. A feat no one believed ever possible.
Thus begins, Kristine’s journey to “follow Jacob’s spark – his passionate interests.” Through hard work, long hours, determination and commitment, Kristine along with her husband, Michael, friends and others in their community prevailed.
Kristine Barnett is an intelligent, tireless, superwoman. THE SPARK is dramatic, inspiring and transformative. This is a woman who faced overwhelming obstacles but through sheer determination, stamina, and an overwhelming love for her son, changed not only his life and his future but also the lives and futures of many other children.
THE SPARK is a memoir that should be read by every parent, every teacher, and a copy should be in every school and public library.
Antheneum Books for Young Readers|August 27, 2013|Hardcover|ISBN: 978-1-4424-9781-8
Even in the darkest of times – especially in the Story Description:
Antheneum Books for Young Readers|August 27, 2013|Hardcover|ISBN: 978-1-4424-9781-8
Even in the darkest of times – especially in the darkest of times – there is room for strength and bravery. A remarkable memoir from Leon Leyson, one of the youngest children to survive the Holocaust on Oskar Schindler’s list.
Leon Leyson (born Leib Lezjon) was only ten-years-old when the Nazis invaded Poland and his family was forced to relocate to the Krakow ghetto. With incredible luck, perseverance, and grit, Leyson was able to survive the sadism of the Nazis, including that of the demonic Amon Goeth, commandant of Plaszow, the concentration camp outside Krakow. Ultimately, it was the generosity and cunning of one man, a man named Oskar Schindler who saved Leon Leyson’s life and the lives of his mother,his father, and two of his four siblings, by adding their names to his list of workers in his factory – a list that became world renowned: Schindler’s List.
This, the only memoir published by a former Schindler’s List child, perfectly captures the innocence of a small boy who goes through the unthinkable. Most notable is the lack of rancor, the lack of venom, and the abundance of dignity in Mr. Leyson’s telling. The Boy on the Wooden Box is a legacy of hope, a memoir unlike anything you’ve ever read.
My Review:
Young Leon Leyson ran barefoot across the meadow toward the river. Grabbing a rope swing, he hoisted himself up, swung across the water and let go splashing down into the cool river below. He and his friends often came here for it was their favourite past time.
During the winter, with the help of his older brother, Tsalig he fashioned together a pair of ice skates and glided up and down the river. He was very inventive in crafting the skates. They used all kinds of unlikely material, metal remnants taken from their grandfather the blacksmith and bits of wood from the firewood pile. The skates were primitive and clumsy, but they worked and that was all that mattered. Life at this time seemed an endless and carefree journey.
Leon was born in Narewka, a rural village in northwestern Poland, near Bialystok, not far from the border with Belarus. His ancestors had lived there for more than two-hundred years.
His parents were hard-working people who never expected anything they did not earn themselves. His mother, Chanah, was the youngest of five children. She spent her days doing housework and caring for her children. Leon himself was also the youngest of five children.
His father, Moshe was a talented and well-known tool and die maker. He had always worked hard to provide a good life for his family. Shortly after marrying Chanah, he began working as an apprentice machinist in a small factory that produced hand blown glass bottles of all sizes. It was there that his boss chose him to attend an advanced course in tool design in the nearby town of Bialystok. The glass factory did so well that it expanded and moved to Krakow, a thriving city three-hundred and fifty miles southwest of Narewka. His father moved with the factory and saved money over several years before he was able to bring his family there with him.
Leon loved going to synagogue services with his maternal grandparents for he was especially close to them. The rabbi would begin the service in a strong, vibrant voice that soon blended with the congregation.
October 1938 began with disturbing news with stories about Germany and Adolf Hitler, Germany’s leader, or Fuhrer. Since coming to power in 1933, Hitler and the Nazis wasted no time on consolidating control, silencing their opponents and beginning the campaign to re-establish Germany as a dominant world power. A central part of Hitler’s plan was to marginalize Jews, to make them “the other.” He blamed Jews for Germany’s problems, past and present, from its defeat in the Great War to its economic depression.
Soon Leon’s family learned that as many as 17,000 Jews, had been expelled from Germany. The Nazi government told them they were no longer welcome, and were unworthy to live on their soil. The possibility of a war grew stronger.
During the summer of 1939, all of Krakow began to prepare for war. They boarded up windows, stocked up on food, and remodelled their cellars into bomb shelters.
On September 1, 1939, an air-raid siren jolted Leon out of his sleep. German tanks had crossed the border into Poland, the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force, had attacked a Polish border town and the invasion of Poland by the Germans had begun. The Polish army was no match for the Germans and were unable to stop the flow of German soldiers who had crossed into Poland and quickly moved east.
Five days after that first air raid, they heard a rumor that there were guards on the bridges of the Vistula River. Leon snuck out to take a look and sure enough they were German soldiers. It was September 6, 1939. Less than a week after crossing the border in Poland, the Germans were in Krakow. Although Leon and his family didn’t know it then, their years in hell had begun.
The Boy on the Wooden Box is absolutely riveting reading! The atrocities that occurred during the Holocaust were unbelievable and it’s terrible that other humans could do the things they did to their fellow man. I pray we never experience another period like this in any of our lifetimes again and that it will become unnecessary for people like Leon Leyson to write memoirs such as this.
The writing in this novel is literally flawless and the information presented in such a way that it made for easier reading and held my attention from beginning to end. I read it in one sitting, I just can’t say enough about this novel!!
A jaw-dropping story of how a girl from the suburbs ends up in a prince’s harem, and emerges from the secret Xanadu both richer and wiser.
At eighteen, Jillian Lauren was an NYU theater school dropout with a tip about an upcoming audition. The “casting director” told her that a rich businessman in Singapore would pay pretty American girls $20,000 if they stayed for two weeks to spice up his parties. Soon, Jillian was on a plan to Borneo, where she would spend the next eighteen months in the harem of Prince Jefri Bolkiah, youngest brother of the Sultan of Brunei, leaving behind her gritty East Village apartment for a palace with rugs laced with gold and trading her band of artist friends for a coterie of backstabbing beauties.
More than just a sexy read set in an exotic land, Some Girls is also the story of how a rebellious teen found herself – and the courage to meet her birth mother and eventually adopt a baby boy.
My Review:
Whoa! This book was NOT what I was expecting at all and wasn’t really enamoured with it whatsoever. Perhaps I’m a bit too old-fashioned with too many old fashioned morals to be reading a novel such as this. I can never understand why young girls would want to parade around in the nude in front of men they don’t even know, spend days having sex with men they don’t know and then being paid off in cash and jewellery.
Perhaps someone else will enjoy this memoir much more than I did because it certainly wasn’t my cup of tea. ...more
The 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 fifteen months of harrowing captivity in Somalia – a story of courage, resilience, and extraordinary grace.
At the age of eighteen, 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. And then 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 fifteen 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 imaging 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. Lindhourt’s decision, upon her release, to counter the violence he 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.
My Review:
If you read the above ‘Story Description’ you’ll have an exact idea of what this wonderful memoir is about. I only want to add that Amanda Lindhout has to be one of the most courageous women I’ve read about in a long time. The unspeakable abuse she endured day after day for fifteen long months is truly harrowing. To be trussed up like an animal and suspended from a ceiling for forty-eight hours at a time is totally unfathomable to me but she somehow survived by escaping to her “house in the sky” where she watched the woman below her being tortured.
One of the guards was particularly gruelling in his abuse and punishment and raped her on an almost daily basis and how she ever endured that I’ll never know, regardless of her ‘house in the sky.’ She had to separate her physical self from her emotional self in order to deal with the horrifying things that were happening to her and they were brutish and inhumane in every way conceivable. I cried while reading several passages in this book and my heart went out to this young woman who showed such strength and resilience in the face of such brutality.
Although she suffered unbearable abuse and torture, she still had the passion and compassion at the end of this horrendous journey to set up educational help to aid Somalia in reordering their country. It takes a very, very special person to be able to do that.
This book affected me on so many levels, emotionally and spiritually mostly. I honestly and sincerely don’t believe I could ever have survived what this young woman did. I would have died in captivity long before the fifteen months was up. Amanda, you are a true testament to what the human body can withstand and a true testament for other woman to show strength and courage in the face of such horrible adversity. I am so very sorry for what happened to you and thank you for having the courage to share your most intimate story with us. I don’t think I’ll ever forget you and your story.
Thank you to GoodReads for sending me a copy of this book which I won in their contest. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss this book for the world and will be keeping it as part of my permanent collection.
In 1994, Anchee Min made her literary debut with a memoir of growing up in China during the violent trauma of the Cultural Revolution. “Red Azalea” became an international bestseller and propelled her career as a successful critically acclaimed author. Twenty years later, Min returns to the story of her own life to give us the next chapter, an immigrant story that takes her from the shocking deprivations of her homeland to the sudden bounty of the promised land of America, without language, money, or a clear path. It is a hard and lonely road. She teaches herself English by watching Sesame Street, keeps herself afloat working five jobs at once, lives in unheated rooms, suffers rape, collapses from exhaustion, marries poorly and divorces. But she also gives birth to her daughter, Lauryann, who will inspire her and finally root her in her new country. Min’s eventual successes - her writing career, a daughter at Stanford, a second husband she loves – are remarkable, but it is her struggle throughout toward genuine selfhood that elevates this dramatic, classic immigrant story to something powerfully universal.
My Review:
The Cooked Seed picks up 20 years after Min wrote “The Red Azalea”, her memoir of growing up in China during the violent trauma of the Cultural Revolution. The story left off as she fled her homeland, but a whole new life was just beginning.
Speaking no English, Anchee comes to American, she has no money, and no plan as to what she is going to do. She teaches herself English by watching, of all things, ‘Sesame Street.’
On August 31, 1984, Anchee landed in Chicago with $500 of borrowed money in her wallet, she was 27 years old. Prior to leaving Shanghai she worked at the Shanghai Film Studio. She was considered a “cooked seed” – no chance to sprout.
Anchee’s cousin, whom she’d never met before, picked her up at the airport in Chicago. They were unable to communicate with each other as Anchee spoke Mandarin and he spoke Cantonese. However, he was kind enough to allow her to temporarily stay at his student apartment until she was able to find her own accommodations.
Anchee had come to Chicago to study at the School of Art Institute. The foreign-student adviser was upset with her because she had indicated on her application that her English was excellent. Anchee confessed she was guilty of lying and was willing to accept any punishment the Art Institute might want to met out. She was sent to the intensive tutorial class held at the University of Illinois. The program cost $500 which she had to borrow from an Aunt she’d never met.
The Art Institute asked Anchee what type of roommate she’d prefer. She told them that anyone who spoke English, and wouldn’t mind her silence. That was when she met and made her first friend, Takisha, in America. Anchee found the dorm room to be very luxurious considering where she had come from. She found the fact that hot water was available 24 hours a day to be incredible considering she’d never grown up with that luxury. She said she “felt like a princess” because for the first time in her life she would get to sleep on a mattress.
Next, Anchee began looking for a job. The first day she spent hours walking and walking downtown Chicago visiting every single Chinese restaurant she could find but was turned away at every single one. She finally ended up visiting the school’s job placement office. Unfortunately, the majority of the jobs posted required English which Anchee had not yet mastered. Then she saw a job listing for a model with the school’s fashion design department. A little old lady received her in the office and hired her on the spot. She was so excited and the job paid $7.00 per hour which was more than Anchee’s “monthly” salary in China! She then moved all her courses to the evenings so she’d be able to apply for more jobs. Soon her schedule was full. She became an attendant for the student gallery and a helper at the admissions office. These jobs would not be Anchee’s last, there were many more to come.
The Cooked Seed is a powerful look at what we humans can achieve when our heart is in the right place. I would highly recommend this to anyone and would actually like to read this again.
When Alexandra Kuykendall became a mother it was the beginning of a soul-searching journey that took her into her past and made her question everything she’d experienced – and a lot of what she hadn’t. The only daughter of a single, world-traveling mother and an absent artist father, Alexandra shares her unique quest to answer universal questions. Am I lovable? Am I loved? Am I loving?
In short, moving episodes, Alexandra transports readers into a life that included a childhood in Europe, a spiritual conversion marked more by questions than answers, a courtship in the midst of a call to be with troubled teens, marriage and motherhood – and always, always, the questions of identity. Through her personal journey, women will discover their own path to understanding the shape of their lives and a deeper sense of God’s intimate presence within it.
My Review:
Alexandra Kuykendall remembers being in Barcelona, Spain in the hot July heat when she was just nine-years-old. She wanted to know who she was and where she came from. Alex was good at holding things in, so she willed herself to push her nerves and excitement down, piling them onto the mountain of questions and unease she’d been holding in all her short life. She was hoping that today would be a new beginning as she was in a cab with her Mom on her way to meet her father for the very first time.
Alex wondered why she’d never been told that her father lived here before she and her mother arrived for their vacation. And, what had prompted her mother to look him up in the phone book just yesterday? Why had she arranged this meeting?
Alex and her mom were on the back end of a yearlong journey. They had left the United States the summer before to move to Italy, where her mom found a job teaching English in a small factory town. For an entire year they lived abroad but Alex missed the United States, especially Saturday morning cartoons and french fries and she was tired of being an outsider in a small town. Finally, mom and Alex moved back to Seattle.
When they finally arrived at the café, Alex was sorely disappointed in the man who was supposed to be her father. She thought all dads were in their mid-30’s who wore business suits, had clean-cut hair and looked like models in the JC Penny catalogue. This was not the man she met.
He was her father alright, but not at all what she longed for, hoped for, nor was expecting. Alex felt he wasn’t enough. She also felt it terribly unfair that she should end up with a second hand model.
What it was time to leave her father stood up and hugged her from the side. Alex felt uncomfortable and the hug felt forced. She expected to feel a familiarity with the man, but she didn’t. But, she was still hopeful that when the awkwardness passed, when he knew her, she would know what it was to have a father’s love. That huge, gaping hole would be filled in.
In her teenage years, Alex was introduced to God and began to explore her religious beliefs which eventually became a big part of her. The relationship with her father remained sporadic over the years and did she ever truly feel loved and wanted by him? Did she feel lovable? The author does a wonderful job at getting these points across to the reader.
The Artist’s Daughter gracefully unravels one woman’s life story in ways that the reader will be able to relate too. Alexandra Kuykendall explores the joys and boundaries of families and storytelling.
I would like to thank Graf-Martin for the reader’s copy of this book.
In this true story, Armande Martel, a young nun from Quebec, is arrested by the Germans in 1940 during a stay at her religious order’s mother house in Brittany. She spends the war years in a German concentration camp. After her return to Canada, she leaves the Church, finds the love of her life in Montreal, and adopts, Lise Dion.
Growing up, Lise is familiar with only a few facts of her mother’s past. It’s when she clears her mother’s small apartment after her death that Lise Dion discovers the key to the blue trunk, which was always locked. This key unlocks the mystery of Armande’s early life, and Lise decides to write The Secret of the Blue Trunk.
My Review:
Lise Dion had been trying to phone her mother, Armande for two days but didn’t get an answer. Worried, she phoned the superintendent of her building and asked him if he would mind going to her apartment and checking on her. The superintendent was more than happy to do that for her and said he’d call her back in fifteen minutes.
Half an hour later, Lise still hadn’t heard back from him and she was worried sick that something was very wrong. Finally, after forty minutes he called her back and told her to come to her mother’s apartment right away. He wouldn’t tell her over the phone why.
When, Lise drove up in front of her mother’s apartment building she saw police and paramedics. She found out her mother had been dead for two days. She had died from a pulmonary embolism and had lost consciousness immediately so hadn’t suffered which was a relief for, Lise.
Before they closed the casket, Lise and her children put various items in beside her mother: drawings done by the children, her eye glasses, affectionate notes they’d written, photos of her husband and brother, and some of her favourite flowers.
Not quite twenty-four hours after the funeral the superintendent called, Lise to notify her that the apartment needed to be cleaned out immediately as he had new tenants moving in.
When, Lise entered the apartment she could still smell the decomposition odour and flung open all the windows before setting to work. When she looked around she wondered how she was going to get rid of everything that belonged to, Armande after having lived there for eight years.
Although, Lise was thirty-seven-years-old, she wondered how she was going to live without her mother. She felt she’d lost her “security, the consolation, and the sympathetic ear of her adored mother.” Never again would she be able to take refuge with her.
Reluctantly, Lise began packing up in the kitchen. Once it was empty she headed for her mother’s bedroom. She removed the sheets from the bed inhaling her mother’s scent one last time. Once the bedroom was cleaned out all that remained was the big blue trunk. The trunk had always been locked and, Lise had no idea what was inside. She said: “the mysterious, unfathomable, untouchable blue trunk…intrigued me throughout my childhood because it was always locked.” Attempting to open that trunk was strictly forbidden and would bring severe punishment if tampered with.
After some looking around, Lise located the key that would open it. Upon opening the trunk she found photographs of her mother and father, Lise’s adoption papers, a well-worn black rosary, medals of various saints, and a few other things. At the bottom was a black box, inside she found some old yellowed papers. One of them “commanded my mother to obey orders under penalty of death.” She also finds a photo of her mother in a nun’s habit!
Armande, a young nun in Quebec at the time, was arrested by the Germans in 1940 while staying at her religious order’s mother house in Brittany. She spent the war years in a German concentration camp.
At the very bottom of the trunk there were five notebooks tied together with ribbon. There was also a letter addressed to, Lise from, Armande explaining that she decided to tell Lise her life story through the notebooks so, Lise could know and understand what her life was like. Armande had left, Lise all her secrets.
The Secret of the Blue Trunk was a phenomenal read! A very sad read to learn what, Lise’s mother endured all those years. Life was not kind to her. I would highly recommend this memoir to anyone.
The astounding story of one girl’s journey from war victim to UNICEF Special Representative.
As a child in a small rural village in Sierra Leone, Mariatu Kamara lived peacefully surrounded by family and friends. Rumors of rebel attacks were no more than a distant worry.
But when 12-year-old Mariatu set out for a neighboring village, she never arrived. Heavily armed rebel soliders, many no older than children themselves, attacked and tortured Mariatu. During this brutal act of senseless violence they cut off both her hands.
Stumbling through the countryside, Mariatu miraculously survived. The sweet taste of a mango, her first food after the attack, reaffirmed her desire to live, but the challenge of clutching the fruit in her bloodied arms reinforced the grim new reality that stood before her. With no parents or living adult to support her and living in a refugee camp, she turned to begging in the streets of Freetown.
In the gripping and heartbreaking true story, Mariatu shares with readers the details of the brutal attack, its aftermath and her eventual arrival in Toronto. There she began to pull together the pieces of her broken life with courage, astonishing resilience and hope.
My Review:
Mariatu Kamara, eleven-years-old lived with her aunt Marie, uncle Alie, and cousins in a small village in Sierra Leone called Magborou. There were only about 200 people living there. The eight houses in the village were made out of clay, with wood and tin roofs, and several families lived in each one. Magborou was an extremely poor village and none of the children attended school because their help was needed on the farms.
When Mariatu was seven-years-old she was big enough to carry plastic jugs of water and straw baskets filled with corn on her head. She spent her mornings planting and harvesting. They grew peanuts, rice, peppers, sweet potatoes, and cassava which is like a potato. During the afternoon, Mariatu would play hide-and-seek with her cousins and friends. At night she spent time dancing to the sound of drums and people singing. Once each week the whole village got together to watch as people put on performances.
Mariatu was eleven when the war came to Sierra Leone. The chariman of their village had heard that violent rebels were destroying villages and killing people in eastern Sierra Leone but were headed toward Magborou. The rebels wanted to overthrow the government which they accused of being corrupt and not helping people. The villages were hearing that the rebels weren’t just killing people but also torturing them.
The chairman of Magborou decided that the villagers should move to another village named Manarma in hopes of avoiding the rebels. He felt they would all be safer there and there were a lot more people in Manarma.
As they slept and woke in their new village they could hear gunshots in the distance. They were all quiet with no singing, dancing, or drum playing. Some of the elders ordered Mariatu and some others to walk back to their village of Magborou to retrieve some food from the supply bin. Mariatu was afraid and didn’t want to go but you didn’t disobey elders. She and some others set out together but they never reached Magborou. During their trek they had to pass through another village and as soon as they entered it they heard gunshots. About ten of them had left for Magborou from Manarma. The older men in the group decided they should wait until the gunfire ended before going any further. After awhile the men in the group decided to send Mariatu and another kid, Adamsay back to Manarma just to be safe. They began walking.
When they reached the outskirts of Manarma, they stopped near the soccer field. They couldn’t see or hear anybody which they thought was very unusual. Suddenly they saw soldiers of some sort who were bare-chested with bullets wrapped around their bodies. Adamsay was frightened and began to run away but a man came out of nowhere and caught her by the waist. He threw her down in the dust beside Mariatu. He had several guns slung over his shoulders. Another soldier came and they pushed the two kids into the village. Mariatu could now see that the soldiers had taken over the village going in and out of people’s houses, robbing them of people’s possessions. The soldiers ordered Mariatu and Adamsay to sit on the ground and tied their hands behind their backs. A few minutes later, a couple of the soliders took Mariatu into the bushes and cut off both her hands with a machete. What happened after this was truly horrible. An atrocity!
I give Mariatu a lot of credit for what she saw, what she endured and for having the courage to come forward and tell her story. The Bite of the Mango is a story of bravery, courage, resilience, strength, and of moving forward. I would highly recommend that everyone read this memoir.
Grand Central Publishing|February 8, 2010|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-446-69693-7
In 1986, Susan Jane Gilman and a classmate embarkedStory Description:
Grand Central Publishing|February 8, 2010|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-446-69693-7
In 1986, Susan Jane Gilman and a classmate embarked on a bold trek around the globe starting in the People’s Republic of China. At that point, China had been open to independent backpackers for roughly ten minutes. Armed only with the collected works of Nietzsche and Linda Goodman’s Love Signs, the two friends plunged into the dusty streets of Shanghai. Unsurprisingly, they quickly found themselves in over their heads – hungry, disoriented, stripped of everything familiar, and under constant government surveillance. Soon, they began to unravel – one physically, the other psychologically. As their journey became increasingly harrowing, they found themselves facing crises that Susan didn’t think they’d survive. But by summoning strengths she never knew she had – and with the help from unexpected friends – the two travelers found their way out of a Chinese heart of darkness.
UNDRESS ME IN THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN is a flat-out page-turner, an astonishing true story of naivete, friendship, and redemption told with Susan’s trademark compassion and humor.
My Review:
In 1986, Susan Jane Gilman and Claire Van Houten, both 21-years-old, decide to embark on a journey around the world in a year. After traveling for thirty-one hours, they arrived at Kai Tak Airport in the People’s Republic of China to a cabin full of clapping people. They purchased around-the-world airline tickets which began with a flight from New York to Hong Kong that September. The furthest west Susan had ever been prior to this was to Cleveland. However, they yet had no idea how complicated the world could be, or of their place in it, or just how much trouble they were in for. All their lives they’d both been straight-A students and during this trip didn’t want to pamper themselves at all. No Hilton Hotels, no air conditioned buses or tour guides. They wanted to stay off the beaten path entirely, stay in local place only, eat local food, be totally hard core and authentic and experience the “real” world.
Prior to leaving the United States they purchased a budget guidebook, ‘Southeast Asia on a Shoestring’, published by a bunch of hippies calling themselves Lonely Planet. They recommended staying in Hong Kong Kowloon section at a place called ‘Chungking Mansions.’ This was not only a great base for backpackers, they said, but a good source for information about obtaining Chinese visas and arranging transport across the border, so that’s where they decided to go. The place turned out to be a dump, it wasn’t even a hotel but instead a warehouse for transients.
Luckily for Susan and Claire, they ran into a Chinese man named Jonnie who spoke very good English. He turned out to be an absolute life-saver for the two women becoming everything to them from confidante, communicator, food expert and anything and everything else they needed. I loved this part of the memoir. Jonnie couldn’t pronounce their names correctly and as a result called Susie, Sushi and Claire, Crair. It was so cute, really to read him communicating with them. They had made a real friend in Jonnie while in China and had a hard time saying good-bye before heading off to Beijing. They had actually caused him to “lose face” in the end but you’ll have to read the story to find out why. I’m not sure I could have done to Jonnie what they did after all he had done for them. However, it takes all kinds to make the world go around.
In Beijing, they found the well-known Tiananmen Square to be nothing more than the largest piece of poured concrete they’d ever seen but found other sites they enjoyed immensely. From Beijing they headed to Guilan which took 34 hours! From Guilan to Gunagzhou. That flight was only 55 minutes, a little easier to take.
Claire slowly begins to lose her mind during the trip. She thinks people, governments, officials, and others are following them. She becomes prone to these yelling, crazy, totally zoned-out screaming tantrums in public that Susie just doesn’t know what to with or how to help her anymore. She never knows what is going to set her off. Claire has become a Jekyll and Hyde. On the other hand, poor Susie is stricken again and again with various physical ailments like fevers, sick stomachs and most worriedly she is having great difficulty breathing, coughing up hordes and hordes of phlegm. Walking quickly even causes her to stop, bend over with her hands on her knees trying hard to catch her breath. This trip is turning into a nightmare with one of them falling to pieces psychologically and the other physically. Eventually they find their way out of this absolute nightmarish trip they embarked upon and end back up in New York. However, what they had to go through and endure will pop your eyes wide open!
UNDRESS ME IN THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN is terrifyingly real and you’ll come away wondering how you would have survived what Susie and Claire did. This would make a great book for bookclubs as well, there is so much to discuss. I’ll definitely be telling my family and friends about this memoir for sure.
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