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Books > Fiction > True stories > Endurance & survival
NOW A MAJOR FEATURE DOCUMENTARY Determined to cover the Syrian
regime's brutal crackdown on dissent and the devastating impact of
the war on Syria's civilians, veteran photographer Paul Conroy and
Marie Colvin,one of the foremost war correspondents of her
generation, decided to smuggle themselves across enemy lines and
into the blood and terror of Homs. But tragedy struck before the
pair could finish documenting the slaughter. A rocket killed Colvin
and ripped a hole in Conroy's leg. As Syrian ground forces closed
in on his position,Conroy was forced to make a terrifying
last-ditch attempt to escape from a regime that appeared determined
to murder him. Under the Wire is the epic, untold account of Conroy
and Colvin's last, tragic assignment together. A rare and touching
portrait of an extraordinary woman driven by an unquenchable desire
to 'bear witness', it is as much a tale of courage and survival as
it is the poignant account of a friendship forged amid the carnage
of war.
'When people gave up on Wylie, Wylie refused to give up on people.'
For a street dog born in the city of Kandahar, Afghanistan, to be
crowned top dog at Scruffts, a competition for rescued crossbreeds
held during Crufts, the largest dog show on earth, is nothing short
of a miracle. But for Wylie, the gentle, cropped eared ball of fur,
miracles seemed to happen quite regularly. Beaten and abused while
being used as a bait dog, Wylie suffered terrible injuries that
needed urgent treatment. Rescued close to death, with hacked off
ears and a severed tail, he was attended to by soldiers who feared
he would not last the night. Astonishingly he did, only to return
days later with new injuries. However a lifeline came when he was
handed over to animal welfare Charity Nowzad and flown to Britain
in the hope of finding a new life. But would anyone take a chance
on a seemingly nervous and undomesticated stray? Luckily for Wylie
his biggest adventure yet was about to begin... This is the
incredible and heart-warming story, full of tragedy and triumph, of
a dog who never gave up hope.
Sammy Woodhouse was just 14 when she met Arshid Hussain. Ten years
older, he promised to take care of her. Sammy thought she was in
love, but in reality she was being groomed by a ringleader of
Britain's most notorious child sex ring. Just A Child tells the
heartbreaking story of how a young girl from Rotherham was abused
by her drug-dealing 'boyfriend', eventually giving birth to his
baby, right under the nose of the very authorities who were meant
to protect her. When reality dawned and Sammy realised she was one
of countless vulnerable child victims - many of whom were
trafficked around the north of England - she took it upon herself
to blow the whistle and save others from a similar fate. Thanks to
Sammy's bravery, the gang was fully exposed, as well as the
authorities that did little to help her. Her shocking account of
how these events came to pass will enrage and sadden but, above
all, it will offer hope and show why this must never happen again.
Learn Resilience Through These Survival Stories #1 New Release in
Disaster Relief Extreme Survival is the long awaited followup to
New York Times best-selling author Michael Tougias's The Finest
Hours. This thriller will have you mentally on the
edge-of-your-seat as you read these true survival stories and learn
useful survival techniques! Explore the stories and the causes of
manmade disasters. To answer the question of why disasters happen
and how some survive, Tougias interviewed over 100 people who
survived against all odds, first chronicling their harrowing
survival stories, and then discussing in detail the lessons
learned. Both an exciting and informative read, this book provides
the entertainment and exceptional research fans expect. Learn
resilience through the mindset of a survivor. Tougias shares what a
person is capable of when under pressure and facing different types
of disasters. Surviving disasters requires extreme survival
techniques to kick in at just the right time! All of Michael
Tougias books have a level of deep survival laced within the pages.
Learn how to rise against the odds in your personal and
professional life. Inside, you'll find: Captivating and narrative
survival stories told in true Tougias' trademark style Analysis of
major man-made disasters and the faulty decisions that led to them
First-person accounts and detailed survival tactics that can be
utilized in your day-to-day life If you like non-fiction survival
books like The Gift of Fear, Deep Survival, or If I Live Until
Morning, you'll love Extreme Survival.
Leisel Jones is rightly regarded as one of the greatest
breaststrokers ever. At just fifteen, she won two silver medals at
the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000; she went on to win gold at Athens
and Beijing, and at London 2012 became the first Australian swimmer
to compete at four Olympics. For the first time, Leisel candidly
describes what it's like to be thrust into the limelight so young.
She reveals the constant pressure she was under - from coaches,
from the media and from herself - to be perfect. Despite the highs
of her swimming stardom, she suffered depression, and at one time
planned to take her own life. In London, criticised in the media
for her weight, and appalled by the bulling and dysfunction in the
Australian swim team, Leisel nevertheless handled herself with
great composure. She has emerged with maturity and good humour,
having finally learnt how to be herself and live with confidence.
Body Lengths is the inspiring story of an Australian sporting hero,
told with humour, optimism and style.
In late March of 2014, death descended upon the community of Oso,
Washington in the form of a massive landslide. Ten million cubic
yards of dirt and mud crashed through homes, sweeping a
20-foot-high wall of debris before it and scouring the valley
floor. In the cold rain of that morning, an entire community
disappeared in a sea of mud. In the desperate hours that followed,
rescue crews were able to pull only eight survivors out of the
wrecked landscape. And then all became quiet, with the stunned
realization that many more people were missing, but none were still
living. This is the moment when the story of A Dog's Devotion
begins. The emergency call from Oso went out, and was answered by
K9 Search and Rescue (SAR) teams from across the Pacific Northwest.
Suzanne, along with her 4-year-old Labrador Retriever, Keb, and her
teammate Guy, was one of the SAR teams to respond to this disaster.
In this book, readers immediately find themselves on the ground in
the cold mud of the Oso Landslide Disaster on the desperate search
for the remains of over forty lost souls. In subsequent chapters,
readers will accompany Suzanne, Guy, and Keb as they are inserted
by helicopter to search high snowfields on Mount Rainier, or as
they traverse steep, forested slopes searching for the clandestine
grave of murder victims. They'll join K9 Keb, as her keen nose
leads to human remains in the forests of Washington State and as
far away as the woods of Scandinavia. Keb's story is of a dedicated
K9 who can distinguish the scent of the dead from the scent of the
living, and who can detect buried bones and even corpses
underwater. Readers will follow this intrepid K9 and her teammates
as they face the challenges of changeable weather, deep northwest
forests, high mountain slopes, and menacing coyotes to find dead
bodies, missing hikers, and even the bones of murder victims from
long ago. Among their successes: finding multiple victims buried by
the 2014 Oso Landslide, solving the mysterious disappearance of
women in wealthy suburbs, and finding human bones thought to be
forever lost to time. It's their story about evolving as search and
rescue volunteers while overcoming harsh conditions, inner demons,
a rust-bound bureaucracy, and back-stabbing teammates. While
internal conflicts threaten their larger K9 team, Keb's training,
loyalty, and perseverance inspire them, and help them find the
resolve to carry on their service to the community.
Inspired by seven photographs of WWII refugees in an old album, the
author embarked on a quest to uncover the story behind each
portrait. Had the refugees been rescued by the diplomat Chiune
Sugihara, who saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust by
providing Japanese transit visas? Searching for the identities of
the people in the photographs, the author scoured historical
records and interviewed numerous fascinating individuals, including
Sugihara visa recipients and their descendants. While solving the
mystery of the people in the photographs, the author uncovered more
hero diplomats and new details about Sugihara visas. This account
of the author's investigation supports the legacy of Chiune
Sugihara and highlights other WWII saviors, such as the Dutch
diplomat Jan Zwartendijk.
Now in trade paperback, this is a collection of personal stories by
ten courageous women about how they are living with breast cancer,
not dying from it. Written with humour, insight, raw emotion and
honesty, each story details one woman's personal experience - from
the shocking diagnosis to surgery and beyond. These women are a new
breed of cancer survivors. Resourceful and proactive, many of them
challenged current medical practices, or combined alternative
treatments with conventional ones. "B.O.O.B.S." offers invaluable
information about the latest cancer treatments, the benefit of peer
support, as well as hope to breast cancer sufferers to beat this
disease.
In 1922 a journalist commented on British tenacity to General
Bruce, leader of the British Everest Expedition. Bruce replied with
a single word: 'Shackleton'. Ernest Shackleton is one of history's
great explorers, an extraordinary Edwardian character who pioneered
the path to the South Pole and became a leading figure in Antarctic
discovery. His incredible adventures on four expeditions to the
Antarctic have captivated generations. A restless adventurer from
an Irish background, he joined the Empire's last great endeavour of
exploration - to reach the South Pole with Scott on the Discovery
expedition. A clash with Scott led to Shackleton being ordered home
and a bitter feud. Shackleton's riposte was the Nimrod expedition,
which uncovered the route to the Pole, achieved the first fixing of
the South Magnetic Pole, and honed the acclaimed leadership skills
which kept despair at bay and encouraged men to overcome
unimaginable hardship on the Endurance expedition. But Shackleton
was a flawed character whose chaotic private life contrasted with
celebrity status as the leading explorer. Persistent money problems
left his men unpaid and his family with debts.This first
comprehensive biography in a generation brings a fresh perspective
to the heroic age of Polar exploration dominated by Shackleton's
complex, compelling and enduringly fascinating story.
The first new book from beloved therapist and writer Torey Hayden
in almost fifteen years--an inspiring, uplifting tale of a troubled
child and the remarkable woman who made a difference. In a
forgotten corner of Wales, a young girl languishes in a home for
troubled children. Abandoned by her parents because of her violent
streak, Jessie--at the age of ten--is at risk of becoming just
another lost soul in the foster system. Precocious and bold, Jessie
is convinced she is possessed by the devil and utterly unprepared
for the arrival of therapist Torey Hayden. Armed with patience,
compassion, and unconditional love, Hayden begins working with
Jessie once a week. But when Jessie makes a stunning accusation
against one of Hayden's colleagues - a man Hayden implicitly trusts
- Hayden's work doubles: now she must not only get to the root of
Jessie's troubles, but also find out if what the girl alleges is
true. A moving, compelling, and inspiring account, Lost Child is a
powerful testament once again of Torey Hayden's extraordinary
ability to reach children who many have given up on--and a reminder
of how patience and love can ultimately prevail.
Paul Nazaroff was the ringleader of a desperate plot to overthrow the Bolsheviks in Central Asia in 1918. Declared 'the most dangerous counter-revolutionary at large in the Tashkent region' thus began an extraordinary catalogue of adventures with hair-breadth 'scapes and survival against all odds. Forced to live the life of a hunted animal his escape led him right across Central Asia, over the Himalayas to the plains of Hindustan.
It was the storm of the century, boasting waves over one hundred
feet high-a tempest created by so rare a combination of factors
that meteorologists deemed it "the perfect storm." In a book that
has become a classic, Sebastian Junger explores the history of the
fishing industry, the science of storms, and the candid accounts of
the people whose lives the storm touched. The Perfect Storm is a
real-life thriller that makes us feel like we've been caught,
helpless, in the grip of a force of nature beyond our understanding
or control. Winner of the American Library Association's 1998 Alex
Award.
The captivating and heroic story of Hudson Stuck-an Episcopal
priest-and his team's history-making summit of Denali. In 1913,
four men made a months-long journey by dog sled to the base of the
tallest mountain in North America. Several groups had already tried
but failed to reach the top of a mountain whose size-occupying 120
square miles of the earth's surface -and position as the Earth's
northernmost peak of more than 6,000 meters elevation make it one
of the world's deadliest mountains. Although its height from base
to top is actually greater than Everest's, it is Denali's weather,
not altitude, that have caused the great majority of
fatalities-over a hundred since 1903. Denali experiences weather
more severe than the North Pole, with temperatures of forty below
zero and winds that howl at 80 to 100 miles per hour for days at a
stretch. But in 1913 none of this mattered to Hudson Stuck, a
fifty-year old Episcopal priest, Harry Karstens, the hardened
Alaskan wilderness guide, Walter Harper, part of the Koyukon
people, and Robert Tatum, a divinity student, both just in their
twenties. They were all determined to be the first to set foot on
top of Denali. In A Window to Heaven, Patrick Dean brings to life
this heart-pounding and spellbinding feat of this first ascent and
paints a rich portrait of the frontier at the turn of the twentieth
century. The story of Stuck and his team will lead us through the
Texas frontier and Tennessee mountains to an encounter with Jack
London at the peak of the Yukon Goldrush. We experience Stuck's awe
at the rich Inuit and Athabascan indigenous traditions-and his
efforts to help preserve these ways of life. Filled with daring
exploration and rich history, A Window to Heaven is a brilliant and
spellbinding narrative of success against the odds.
An epic story of Tibet from the author of The Good Women of China
As a young girl in China Xinran heard a rumour about a soldier in
Tibet who had been brutally fed to the vultures in a ritual known
as a sky burial: the tale frightened and fascinated her. Several
decades later Xinran met Shu Wan, a Chinese woman who had spent
years searching for her missing husband who had been serving as a
doctor in Tibet; her extraordinary life story would unravel the
legend of the sky burial. For thirty years she was lost in the wild
and alien landscape of Tibet, in the vast and silent plateaus and
the magisterial mountain ranges, living with communities of nomads
moving with the seasons and struggling to survive. In this haunting
book, Xinran recreates Shu Wen's remarkable journey in an epic
story of love, loss, loyalty and survival. Moving, shocking and,
ultimately, uplifting Sky Burial paints a unique portrait of a
woman and a land, both at the mercy of fate and politics.
'Asperger's made me a prisoner in my own home. When I finally
entered the real world, evil was waiting.' A shocking true account
of one girl's harrowing journey to survival. Sophie Crockett spent
most of her childhood suffering from crippling anxiety. Diagnosed
with Asperger's syndrome, she became a virtual prisoner in her own
home, afraid to venture outside. After battling with depression,
eating disorders and self-harm, Sophie had the courage to re-enter
society in her late teens. She was just 17 when she fell prey to
ST, a violent bully who exploited her vulnerability and cruelly
assumed complete coercive control over her life. He kept Sophie
captive and refused to leave her alone; fed her, bathed her, even
escorted her to the toilet. Sophie endured countless tirades of
mental and physical abuse, kept as his sex slave while he
repeatedly threatened to kill her. She was convinced it was the
end. But through her bravery, and with little help from the
authorities, Sophie was able to escape. This is her story.
"Impossible to put down, makes you laugh and cry, Sophie's story is
inspirational. It gives us so much hope and encouragement. I don't
think we would be where we are on our own journey without her
advice." OLLIE LOCKE "A read so twisty your heart pounds as you
turn the pages." THE SUNDAY TIMES Brave, funny and honest,
columnist Sophie Beresiner takes us on her complex journey to
parenthood and shows us that there's more than one way to become a
mother. Sophie's journey to motherhood began aged 30 with a cancer
diagnosis that stole her fertility. Today, Sophie is older, wiser
(and agonisingly excellent at hindsight), and somewhat battered.
Through interminable cycles of hope and failure, her infertility
story spanned three countries, five surrogates and a debt she'd
rather not dwell on. Part memoir, part manifesto, The Mother
Project is the epic story of Sophie's quest for happiness.
Exploring the complexities, expectations and injustices faced by
millions of women across the world, it is a book that is both
personal and universal.
Praise for Luke and Ryan Hart's memoir: 'A powerful, searing
account from incredible brothers and an important contribution to
our understanding of domestic abuse' Victoria Derbyshire '... a
courageous account of domestic abuse and the devasting impact it
has on families' Jeremy Corbyn MP 'Relevant and inspiring' Chris
Green, White Ribbon UK On 19 July 2016, Claire and Charlotte Hart
were murdered, in broad daylight, by the family's father. He shot
his wife and daughter with a sawn-off shotgun before committing
suicide. REMEMBERED FOREVER is the shocking story of what led to
this terrible crime. Luke and Ryan Hart, the family's two surviving
sons, lived under the terror of coercive control. Their father
believed that his family members were simply possessions, never
referring to them by their names ... just as Woman, Boy, Girl.
Written by the boys, but laced with the voices of Claire and
Charlotte, this gripping and moving account brings deeper
understanding to the shocking crime of domestic abuse and homicide.
Luke and Ryan Hart have become spokespeople for the victims who are
so often silenced but must never be forgotten.
THE TRUE STORY THAT INSPIRED THE NETFLIX FILM THE RED SEA DIVING
RESORT. 'Secret missions, brazen deceptions and thrilling,
clandestine operations - Red Sea Spies has it all. But it has
something more important, too - a genuine human mission that made a
difference.' David Hoffman, author of The Billion Dollar Spy '[A]
thrilling and meticulous account.' The Times In the early 1980s on
a remote part of the Sudanese coast, a new luxury holiday resort
opened for business. Catering for divers, it attracted guests from
around the world. Little did the holidaymakers know that the staff
were undercover spies, working for the Mossad - the Israeli secret
service. Providing a front for covert night-time activities, the
holiday village allowed the agents to carry out an operation unlike
any seen before. What began with one cryptic message pleading for
help, turned into the secret evacuation of thousands of Ethiopian
Jews who had been languishing in refugee camps, and the spiriting
of them to Israel. Written in collaboration with operatives
involved in the mission, endorsed as the definitive account and
including an afterword from the commander who went on to become the
head of the Mossad, this is the complete, never-before-heard,
gripping tale of a top-secret and often hazardous operation. 'Red
Sea Spies is what really happened. There is none of the Hollywood
colouring-in, and yet the book is all the more vivid for it ...
part thriller, part dark comedy, all true ... Berg brings out the
native drama in an improbable story of a clandestine homecoming.'
Spectator
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