True Survival

Just three weeks after my 21st birthday, on the evening of October 4, 1994, I was abducted from the streets of my hometown in Southern Russia while on my way home. They drugged me and drove to another country, where they held me captive in a tiny room at first, and then under a house in a pit. A few weeks after my kidnapping, a brutal civil war broke out. Through eight horrifying months of captivity, witnessing atrocities, surviving bombings and sexual violence, I fought desperately to stay alive, stay sane, and not to lose the one thing that kept me going: my hope.

September, 1939. The six Zaks siblings watch in silent horror as the Wehrmacht marches into their quiet hometown in southern Poland. Concerned for their survival, Yisrael Zaks leads his wife Haiya and his brothers Volf and Avraham toward the Russian border. But their escape does not go unhindered; and as they are captured by the invading German forces, they can hear their father’s last commandment still echoing behind them: “Never break the family apart. And whatever you do: never, ever leave any one of your siblings behind.”

In 1990, David Muller set sail to Mozambique with his wife and two young children, to fulfil a boyhood dream of sailing to the tropics on the yacht he had spent ten years building. The dream holiday came to a shocking end when the yacht ran aground on a beach near Bazaruto Islands. While waiting for high tide to refloat the yacht, a patrol of Renamo child soldiers, armed with AK47’s, arrive, along with two adult captives.

In Before I Was Born, She Did This, Alia lays everything bare. From birth, she lived under a false identity and endured cruelty at the hands of her mother. She was starved, bitten, neglected. Left alone in a freezing room, soaked in urine, with no bedding. She was on the child protection register, but no one came.

In his second memoir, a true crime story, David Alan Arnold takes us on a life and death adventure in his helicopter as an aerial cameraman for Ice Road Truckers and Deadliest Catch. He also gets into adventures at home, when he picks a fight with an organized crime ring that took over a school bus stop. David's town has so few residents that good people are afraid to speak about the crimes, for fear of reprisal.

When Dr. Richard Greenberg, accompanied by his wife and three children, set out for a scenic day hike on the Nā Pali Coast of Kaua'i, he had little idea that the dream-like setting would soon be the backdrop of a living nightmare. With an unforeseen change in the weather, Dr. Greenberg and his family soon found themselves fighting for their lives. In this harrowing retelling of the unexpected events of that day and the journey that followed, Dr. Greenberg shares a miraculous story of disaster and rescue, of strength and faith, and of grief and recovery.

Beneath the Rubble offers a look at the tumultuous journey of a waste management entrepreneur whose life teeters on the brink of ruin. Facing the grim reality of an FBI arrest, Sheldon Mickelson's world unravels as the empire he built from the ground up threatens to collapse beneath him. This gripping true story dives deep into the heart of despair and disillusionment, painting a vivid picture of a man ensnared by legal battles and the looming shadow of financial ruin.

James Patterson and award-winning author Ellen Banda-Aaku deliver an unforgettable story of a girl, an elephant, and their life-changing friendship. Clever, sensitive Jama likes elephants better than people. While her classmates gossip—especially about the new boy, Leku—twelve-year-old Jama...

A breathtaking debut novel about survival, hope, and second chances in an Asian American community in Massachusetts, when a false missile throws the residents' lives into chaos. On an otherwise unremarkable morning, the residents of a small town in Massachusetts all receive the same alert...

From Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson to Alive! and Adrift, tales of survival have captivated readers. Here are the most remarkable stories imaginable of maroons, castaways, and other survivors from the 1500s to the present: their moral dilemmas, their personalities, and their influence on society, literature, and art.

In 2024, a gay youth leader was jailed for 22 years. One of his victims tells why it took him two decades to call the police. In 1996, at the age of fourteen, Richard Hall met a man who changed his life. Two and half decades later, he called the police. As a result, the man was jailed for twenty-two years. This is the story of what came before the police: how a teenage boy who had been hounded at school because he was gay walked into a world where he thought he would be safe, but he was too inexperienced to navigate. In his naïvety, he thought what happened next was normal.

From award-winning author Deborah Heiligman comes Torpedoed, a true account of the attack and sinking of the passenger ship SS City of Benares, which was evacuating children from England during WWII. Amid the constant rain of German bombs and the escalating violence of World War II, British...

Cheryl thought she knew her husband. Nine years after marrying her college sweetheart, the middle-class woman wondered if his odd episodes of paranoia were more than just work stress. But when his condition worsened significantly after being laid off, she made a surprising discovery that revealed the depth of his mental deterioration. Stunned when he vanished without a word, Cheryl was left with a pile of guilt and empty bank accounts and being forced to live in her car.

If so, you're in the right place. Ultimate Survival Guide for No-Grid Living offers clear, simple steps to help you master off-grid living without sacrificing comfort or security.

“A moving story of abandonment, love, and survival against the odds.”—Dr. Jane Goodall The heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful story of an abandoned polar bear cub named Nora and the humans working tirelessly to save her and her species, whose uncertain future in the accelerating...

This story has been shared around the world, but the most remarkable parts were missing until now. Twenty-Seconds details the real reason the author survived and continues to survive every day with barely an immune system. It's a testament to our magnificence as human beings. Amazing synchronicities throughout Twenty-Seconds highlight just how important it is to pay attention to the signs in life, perhaps just like the reason you picked up this book. How a 20-second moment can change it all.

Kingdom of Wolves–The Journey is a true story of survival and the soul’s journey to freedom, reclamation, redemption, and wholeness of spirit. The author was a silent victim of domestic abuse that spanned a period of three decades; she was not only held captive by her abuser but also her own low self-esteem, fears, and insecurities.

On August 6th, 1945 Shinji, a Japanese adolescent boy, helps his father below prepare their home for demolition from its roof top, he sees a blinding flash. An Earth-shattering blast with scorching heat sends him into complete darkness and total chaos. An atomic bomb has just exploded only three-quarters of a mile away from him, devastating all of Hiroshima in a blink.

October 8, 2017 sparked the Tubbs Fire: the most destructive California wildfire at that time. Entire communities were burned to the ground, and scores of people lost their lives. It was also the evening Armando and Carmen Berriz, Cuban immigrants, stayed at a friend's house in the Santa Rosa hills of northern California. While they slept, the Tubbs Fire advanced toward them. Armando and Carmen, in a frantic attempt to escape the flames, would spend seven hours sheltering in a swimming pool while the mountain burned around them.

Violently gang-raped when she was 13 years old, and raped three more times before the age of 18, Madeleine has experienced more trauma in her life than most ever will. Living in a state of shock and self-loathing, it took her years of struggle to confront the buried memories of that first attack and begin to undo the damage it wrought, as men continued to take advantage of her fragility in the worst possible way. Yet she found the heart to carry out the best revenge plan of all: leading a fulfilling and happy life.