Review: Hostage-Kidnapped On the High Seas by Linda Davies (A Memoir)

Today I am very excited to welcome Sage’s Blog Tours to the Book Binder’s Daughter with a memoir entitled Hostage: Kidnapped On the High Seas by Linda Davies. I invite you to read my review, learn a little about the author and visit the other stops on the book tour.

My Review:
Linda, her husband Rupert and three children are British expats living in Dubai.  One bright and sunny autumn day they, along with their Australian Captain named Brad, take their catamaran out for a sail on the Persian Gulf.  When they try to moore on the island of Abu Musa they do not realize it is occupied by militarized Iranian forces and they are captured at gunpoint.  Linda, Rupert and Brad feel that at any moment they could be shot.  The men who captured them do not speak very good English, so they are never quite sure of what is going on.

The three captives are finally taken to men on the island who speak better English and are interrogated.  Their captors are afraid that they are spies and taking pictures of the military base.  How can Linda and Rupert convince their captors that they are tourists who have simply sailed to the wrong island?  After two days of being constantly interrogated that are put on a rickety plane and flown to Iran.

Linda also fills in the back story of how her family moved to Dubai and she gives us details about the beauty she sees in the place.  Even though she is terrified once she is in Iran, she also manages to be observant of her surroundings and gives us a description of that country as well.  The memoir also serves to educate the reader about Islamic customs such as how they dress, how they treat family and how they celebrate holidays.

The hardest part of being held hostage is the time that Linda and her husband had to spend away from their children.  They did manage to talk their captors into letting them have brief phone calls with their sons and daughter.  Linda and Rupert were adept at inventing ways to stay calm and sane under such stressful circumstances.  They would play Boggle, read, watch movies, exercise and even pray.  They are living proof that the human spirit is capable of  being remarkably strong under situations of extreme duress.

The end of the book deals with the aftermath of their captivity which also had a lasting impression on their children.  Linda reminds us that despite suffering horrible tragedies that we can and must move on with our lives and learn from our experiences.  This memoir is an inspiring and uplifting read.

About The Author:

Linda Davies is half Welsh, half Danish, or half Celt, half Viking, and loves myths, legends of warriors and the sea. A graduate in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University, she worked for seven years an as investment banker in New York, London and Easter Europe before escaping to write novels. She grew up steeped in economics as both her late father, Professor Glyn Davies and her late brother, Professor John Davies, were economists. Like them, she believes that economics is more art than science and she particularly enjoys delving into the emotions of markets and market makers, both the honest (yes, they do exist!) and the fraudsters, many of whom remain invisible.

Her first Novel, Nest of Vipers, has been published in over thirty countries, selling over two million copies. It has also been optioned three times by major Hollywood studios. Linda has written four more novels for adults which have all been published internationally; Wilderness of Mirrors, Into the Fire, Something Wild and Final Settlement. She is known for her portrayal of strong, independent and rebellious women in extreme situations. Linda lived in Peru for three years, and in the Middle East for eight years, during which time she was kidnapped by Iranian government forces and held hostage for two weeks in Iran. After UK government intervention, she was freed.

Linda writes for Young Adults too. Her first series, the Djinn Quintet – Sea Djinn, Fire Djinn, Storm Djinn and King of the Djinn (and in time War of the Djinn) – has been optioned by Hollywood producer, Sandy Climan.

As well as writing novels, Linda also writes for The Times, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, Independent and the Guardian newspapers in the UK, and the National Theatre. She is a winner of the Philip Geddes Prize for journalism. Linda is married with three children. She lives by the sea in Suffolk.

Follow Linda On Twitter: @LindaDaviesAuth

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