Book: A House in the Sky
Author: Amanda Lindhout
Category: Biography
Recommended by: Kelly Fraser, Okotoks Public Library biography collection manager
Description: A dramatic and redemptive story of a woman whose curiosity led her to the world’s most beautiful and remote places, its most imperiled and perilous countries and then into 15 months of harrowing captivity. This is an exquisitely written story of courage, resilience and grace. As a child, Lindhout escaped a violent household by reading National Geographic and imagining herself in its exotic locales. At 19, working as a waitress in Calgary, she began saving her tips so she could travel the globe. Aspiring to understand the world and live a significant life, she backpacked through Latin America, Laos, Bangladesh and India, and emboldened by each adventure, went on to Sudan, Syria, and Pakistan. In war-ridden Afghanistan and Iraq she carved out a fledgling career as a television reporter. In 2008, she traveled to Somalia and was abducted by a group of masked men and held hostage for 460 days. Vivid and suspenseful, A House in the Sky is the searingly intimate story of an intrepid young woman and her search for compassion in the face of unimaginable adversity.
“When we read biographies, there is a sense of knowing others have complex lives and thoughts just like us, and we may even resonate with another’s circumstances that are very close to our own, such as depression, addiction, grief, a challenging marriage, a joyful triumph or loving a relative with Alzheimers. We learn about other’s lives, their inner thoughts, solutions to problems, outlooks on life and we gain a sense of being in this human experience of struggles and joys together.” ~ Kelly Fraser
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