Stolen
Escape from Syria
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4.0 • 23 Ratings
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
The true story of a mother who risked her life to rescue her kidnapped daughter from war-torn Syria.
In the middle of one of the worst conflicts in Syria's history, Irish mother Louise Monaghan walked across a heavily guarded border to save her six-year-old child from the father who had snatched her from her home. Not knowing what lay ahead, Louise tricked her ex-husband into believing she still loved him and wanted to live together as a family, in order to see her kidnapped child again.
Once in his homeland, she too was held captive, locked inside a run-down house day and night with little food and no hope of escape. She was severely beaten by Mostafa and left unconscious on the ground in front of their child, but just 24 hours later she and her little girl made a daring escape.
The journey they made through bomb attacks and sniper fire, and across a heavily patrolled mountain range in the dead of night, led by illegal people-smugglers, is a miracle in itself. Somehow they both survived, and Stolen is their breathtaking account of events.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this intense memoir, Monahan undertakes a terrifying journey to rescue her daughter following the child's kidnapping by her father. Their treacherous trek out of war-torn Syria into Lebanon to safety was suspenseful. But it is the staggering physical and psychological abuse Monahan suffered during her relationship with her ex-husband Mostafa that is the most disquieting aspect of her narrative. A native of Ireland and a successful sales consultant, Monahan was living in Cyprus when she met her future husband. Early on there were signs of trouble: At one point Mostafa nearly killed her she'd discovered he had a wife and children in Syria. Still, Monahan continued the destructive relationship and acknowledged the absurdity of her actions: "It was a stupid way of looking at life, but I knew no other, so I just endured what I had to, as long as it didn't affect my child." Following the couple's divorce, her ex-husband kidnapped their daughter taking her into war-ravaged Syria. Monahan bravely recounts this intimate family disaster with hopes her story will spark discussions about the rights of women in Muslim societies.
