My Story
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The harrowing true story of abduction and survival from the courageous young woman who lived it—now the subject of a Lifetime original movie, I Am Elizabeth Smart.
In this memoir, Elizabeth Smart reveals how she survived and the secret to forging a new life in the wake of a brutal crime. On June 5, 2002, fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart, the daughter of a close-knit Mormon family, was taken from her home in the middle of the night by religious fanatic Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee. Elizabeth was kept chained, dressed in disguise, repeatedly raped, and told she and her family would be killed if she tried to escape. After her rescue on March 12, 2003, she rejoined her family and worked to pick up the pieces of her life.
With My Story, Elizabeth tells of the constant fear she endured every hour, her courageous determination to maintain hope, and how she devised a plan to manipulate her captors and convinced them to return to Utah, where she was rescued minutes after arriving. Smart explains how her faith helped her stay sane in the midst of a nightmare and how she found the strength to confront her captors at their trial and see that justice was served.
In the years after her rescue, Smart transformed from victim to advocate, traveling the country and working to educate, inspire and foster change. She has created a foundation to help prevent crimes against children and is a frequent public speaker. She and her husband, Matthew Gilmour, now have two children.
Customer Reviews
Powerful
Inspirational read, walked away humbled and wanting to be a more faithful person.
Beauty through Pain
It’s crazy reading the reviews from some people that anyone could lack such intelligence. A 14 year old child was kidnapped and raped and some people think they can comprehend her psychological state and what “she should have done.”
Elizabeth is a hero, a survivor and most important, an honest person who had her will stripped from her. And now she’s making an effort to help people understand what it was like. What a great opportunity for people to learn through empathy what a person (there are many) goes through who is being abused.
Long
I knew a lot about this story before deciding to get this book. As someone who has only recently gotten into reading I will say this book is long. I know the time says 8ish hours but for me I felt like the book was never gonna end. It was hard to listen to Elizabeth tell her story I had to take multiple breaks because this book goes through a lot of deep and dark topics. It was beautifully written but hard subjects to listen to.