A House in the Sky

This book is hard to digest. I spent days deciding if I was

up to read this detailed account of the horrific hostage situation Amanda Lindhout endured with her coworker Nigel a few years ago in Somalia. Similar to reading a Holocaust story two things come to mind, one: how in the world can you survive this? and two: how can I say, as a reader, that this is a "good" read. Let's just say this; A House in the Sky, is an extremely well written account, coauthored by Sara Corbett, contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, of an unimaginable experience and this memoir is painful but enlightening to the reader in many ways. Amanda dreamed of travel her entire life. She devoured National Geographic magazines and imagined all the places that she could see far far away from the small town she was raised in Canada. After a few backpacking adventures Amanda was ready for more. Self taught, she began photographing her adventures and writing stories. Sounds innocent enough and even exciting, except her journeys began to take her to war zones and countries where danger was imminent for both foreigners and especially women. She and a fellow photographer Nigel, an on again off again romance/friendship, meet in Somalia to see for themselves a country known to be the most dangerous place on earth. Four days into their trip they are kidnapped and 463 days of captivity follow. It is amazing they survive this ordeal. It is amazing that Amanda's heart is so big that she has now dedicated her life to educating women around the world to help them live a better life. Her healing process is helping others. Extraordinary read. Highly recommend you take the time to put your feet in someone else's shoes, as scary as that may be and think about our world.  BUY TODAY!! A House in the Sky: A Memoir