June 2014 Host:  Nancy

 

A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout & Sara Corbett

 

Summary

 

This a powerful memoir detailing Lindhout’s fifteen month long captivity in Somalia.  Lindhout is passionate about travel and the first third of the book details some of her travels around the world to places such as Ethiopia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.  Eventually, she utilizes journalism to finance her travel bug and she travels to Somalia with Nigel, her boyfriend/photographer.  After only four days in Somalia, they are kidnapped by Somali bandits and held for four hundred and sixty days.  The rest of the book details the sad result of her plan to break into journalism.  The kidnappers demand outrageous ransoms and the hostages are moved from one grimy building to another while Lindhout is treated with increasing brutality.  She is beaten, tortured, starved, raped, chained up and kept in the dark.  This is an amazing story of how one woman survived and forgave.  This is a book that will stay with you for a long time and is highly recommended.  It won the CBC Bookie award for best Canadian nonfiction and was recently optioned to create a screen adaptation of the work.   

 

Menu

 

White Sangria

 

Fruit and Cheese Plate

 

Dates and Figs/Cream Cheese and Crackers

 

Pastitsio (Greek Lasagna)

 

Lemon Tart