A House in the Sky

"Exquisitely told...A young woman's harrowing coming-of-age story and an extraordinary narrative of forgiveness and spiritual triumph." --The New York Times Book Review

Amanda Lindhout's unforgettable hostage memoir recounts her fifteen-month abduction in Somalia and her extraordinary journey toward hope and redemption in this powerful true story of survival, resilience, and forgiveness.

As a child, Amanda Lindhout escaped a violent household by paging through issues of National Geographic and imagining herself visiting its exotic locales. At the age of nineteen, working as a cocktail waitress, 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. And then, in August 2008, she traveled to Somalia--"the most dangerous place on earth." On her fourth day, she was abducted by a group of masked men along a dusty road.

Held hostage for 460 days, Amanda survives on memory--every lush detail of the world she experienced in her life before captivity--and on strategy, fortitude, and hope. When she is most desperate, she visits a house in the sky, high above the woman kept in chains, in the dark.

Vivid and suspenseful, this gripping survival memoir is "a searingly unsentimental account. Ultimately it is compassion--for her naïve younger self, for her kidnappers--that becomes the key to Lindhout's survival" (O, The Oprah Magazine).

Author: Amanda Lindhout,Sara Corbett
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Published: 06/17/2014
Pages: 400
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.50w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9781451645613


Review Citation(s):
People Weekly 07/14/2014 pg. 72
New York Times Book Review 07/13/2014 pg. 24

About the Author
Amanda Lindhout is the founder of the Global Enrichment Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports development, aid, and education initiatives in Somalia and Kenya. For more information, visit AmandaLindhout.com and GlobalEnrichmentFoundation.com.

Sara Corbett is a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine. Her work has also appeared in National Geographic; Elle; Outside; O, The Oprah Magazine; Esquire; and Mother Jones.