For the first time, ten years after her abduction from her Salt Lake City bedroom, Elizabeth Smart reveals how she survived and the secret to forging a new life in the wake of a brutal crimeOn 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 … wife, Wanda Barzee. She 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.
Now for the first time, in her memoir, MY STORY, she 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 nine 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. In 2012, she married Matthew Gilmour, whom she met doing mission work in Paris for her church, in a fairy tale wedding that made the cover of People magazine.
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This is Elizabeths’ first hand account of her survival during her kidnapping and how she was able to move forward and have the life she wanted. She is an amaziing person.
If you haven’t picked up this book to read then: You need to it’s so well written yes and sad but it will make you want to lock up your doors and windows even tighter and hold your children even closer. The strength in character this REAL person shows during and after this ordeal will boggle your mind.
Inspirational despite the tragedy, and the inspiration and wisdom transcends just one religion.
It feels really weird to rate this five stars, “It was amazing,” because it was horrible what happened to this innocent teenage girl. What do I say about this book? She made it through the terrors and she made it through writing this book. This book makes me never want to complain about anything again at all in the world no matter what happens. …
While we can all sympathize with her horrendous experiences, nothing new here. Maybe she needed to write this book but doesn’t mean we need to read it.
I think this was a good book I felt really bad for the girl it happened to It was really heartbreaking
Hats off to this girl!
The Elizabeth Short story was epic in our day. This young woman had honesty and eloquence to tell of her horrible experience and how she managed to survive. Such a picture of the mental illness and evil that is out there and does threaten our most vulnerable members of society. A good read for parents and a good discussion could be had with teen …
Amazing what a girl can go through and still stay positive in the end!!
I will forever admire this woman’s faith.
Such a sad, scary story. An amazing young woman.
Heart-wrenching yet inspiring
What this girl went through was mind boggling! I’m glad the way it ended and people can learn much from this.
I love this book because it’s a courageous story about a girl named Elizabeth Smart surviving from her abductors by not giving up on herself. She was very brave especially all the abuses that she”ll deal with for nine months. It’s worth reading it!
heart warm story not many come home their are few do I’m so glad that John Walsh was helpful but wish his show was never cancelled how are they ever going to get the worse off the streets now without the help of the viewers ????? Can he get someone he dearly trust take over the show bring more to justice how many more kids come up missing with …
A compelling account of her kidnapping and otdeal, insight into how she made it through, and how she was manipulated during her captivity. Emphasizes the importance of family to her, both in how it kept her with her kidnappers and how thoughts of her family confused, saddened, and sustained her
It was part of my personal memory. Interested in her viewpoint
A woman of courage and how the faith & God with the knowing that her family loved her helped her to withstand the emotional & physical abuse perpetrated against her without being preachy.
Boring
It is amazing that Elizabeth Smart came out of this horendous ordeal as well as she did.