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Biography and Memoir January 2018
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| The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir by Maude Julien; translated by Adriana HunterAuthor Maude Julien, who was raised by sadistic survivalist parents in isolated and deprived circumstances, from age three to sixteen describes her disturbing and cruel childhood in this memoir. Maude Julien shows that it is possible to overcome severe trauma. She recounts her chilling and deeply moving story in a compelling and compassionate voice. Maude was sustained by her love of nature as well as the characters in the novels she read in secret, Julien's love for animals and her years of therapy helped her to become an empathetic and loving adult, The Only Girl in the World is a chilling exploration of psychological control that ends with a glorious escape. |
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| The Saboteur: The Aristocrat Who Became France's Most Daring Anti-Nazi Commando by Paul KixDuring the German Occupation of France in World War II, Robert de la Rochefoucauld, responded to General Charles de Gaulle's call for the French people to resist, by joining Prime Minister Winston Churchill's secret agents in the Special Operations Executive. With tactics learned, he returned to France and organized Resistance cells, interfered with Germans' war-time missions, and executed Nazi officers. Caught by the Germans, La Rochefoucauld withstood months of torture without cracking, and escaped his own death, not once but twice. This slice of World War II history will appeal to espionage buffs and those who admire the anti-Nazi resistance, especially in France. |
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Following Fifi : My Adventures Among Wild Chimpanzees: Lessons from Our Closest Relatives
by John Crocker
As a young student, John Crocker embarked on the adventure of a lifetime, spending eight months in the Gombe forest working with Jane Goodall. He followed families of wild chimpanzees from sunrise to sunset and learned the fundamental behavioral traits of these chimps as they raised their offspring. One chimpanzee captivated him. Her name was Fifi, and she displayed extraordinary patience and reassurance toward her infant, Freud. Upon returning home and becoming a doctor, Crocker found himself incorporating the lessons he learned from Fifi into his work as a father and physician.
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Run, Hide, Repeat : A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood
by Pauline Dakin
Pauline Dakin spent her childhood on the run. Without warning, her mother twice uprooted her and her brother, moving thousands of miles away from family and friends. Disturbing events interrupt their outwardly normal life: break-ins, car thefts, even physical attacks on a family friend. Many years later, her mother finally revealed they'd been running from the Mafia and were receiving protection from a covert anti-organized crime task force. But the truth was even more bizarre. Gradually, Dakin's fears give way to suspicion. As she revisits her past, Dakin uncovers the human capacity for betrayal and deception, and the power of love to forgive.
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A Disappearance in Damascus: Friendship and Survival in the Shadow of War
by Deborah Campbell
Canadian journalist Deborah Campbell began working undercover in Syria in 2007, reporting on Iraqi refugees. She became friends with Ahlam, an Iraqi woman who did humanitarian work and (at risk to her own safety) provided information to foreign reporters. After they had worked together for several years, Ahlam was arrested, and Campbell embarked on a dangerous and frustrating search for her. Vividly describing conditions in Syria, from the refugee camps to the jails, this award-winning, emotionally intense memoir may appeal to those who appreciated David Rhode and Kristen Mulvihill's A Rope and a Prayer or Amanda Lindhout's A House in the Sky.
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Living up to a legend : my adventures with Billy Bishop's ghost
by Diana Bishop
Diana Bishop showed up one day at school with a brown paper bag. Inside was a large breastplate of some of the most precious war medals on the planet, including the Victoria Cross. They belonged to Canada's most celebrated First World War pilot, Billy Bishop, and until her family donated them to the Canadian War Museum, they had been kept in her father's underwear drawer. That day at school was the first time Diana realized she was not growing up in an ordinary family. Now, after more than two decades in Canadian media, Diana Bishop looks back on her grandfather's legacy and its profound influence over her life, and also her father's -- the only son of Billy Bishop, who had so much to live up to.
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The Marriott Cell : An Epic Journey from Cairo's Scorpion Prison to Freedom
by Mohamed Fahmy
Award-winning journalist Mohamed Fahmy's widely anticipated account of his wrongful incarceration in Cairo's maximum-security Scorpion Prison for terrorists and political leaders, and his subsequent battle for justice, opens a remarkable window onto the closed world of Islamic fundamentalism and the bloody geopolitical struggles that dominate our headlines. An important book that reads like a political thriller, it is also a testament to the critical importance of journalism today; an inspiring love story that made front-page news; and a profoundly personal drama of one man's fight for freedom.
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The Man Who Learned to Walk Three Times : A Memoir
by Peter Kavanagh
The Man Who Learned to Walk Three Times is a moving memoir of a full life, and of learning the same lesson over and over. Like Oliver Sacks's books and Marni Jackson's classic Pain: The Fifth Vital Sign, it combines medical history with a very personal case study. It documents coping with one's pain, guilt and shame, and the anger that arises from being bullied. But this book is also a story of healing and rehabilitation, and of hard lessons, hard earned--about the courage to keep going and, if one way isn't working, the awareness and bravery to try something new. Over time, these decisions and lessons help form a sense of identity; as Kavanagh says, "Walking is the key to who I am".
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