Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland

Amanda Berry · Gina DeJesus · Mary Jordan · Kevin Sullivan

Apr 2015 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

The #1 New York Times Bestseller

A bestselling book that is inspiring the nation: “We have written here about terrible things that we never wanted to think about again . . . Now we want the world to know: we survived, we are free, we love life.”

Two women kidnapped by infamous Cleveland school-bus driver Ariel Castro share the stories of their abductions, captivity, and dramatic escape
 
On May 6, 2013, Amanda Berry made headlines around the world when she fled a Cleveland home and called 911, saying: “Help me, I’m Amanda Berry. . . . I’ve been kidnapped, and I’ve been missing for ten years.”
 
A horrifying story rapidly unfolded. Ariel Castro, a local school bus driver, had separately lured Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight to his home, where he kept them chained. In the decade that followed, the three were raped, psychologically abused, and threatened with death. Berry had a daughter—Jocelyn—by their captor.
 
Drawing upon their recollections and the diary kept by Amanda Berry, Berry and Gina DeJesus describe a tale of unimaginable torment, and Pulitzer Prize–winning Washington Post reporters Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan interweave the events within Castro’s house with original reporting on efforts to find the missing girls. The full story behind the headlines—including details never previously released on Castro’s life and motivations—Hope is a harrowing yet inspiring chronicle of two women whose courage, ingenuity, and resourcefulness ultimately delivered them back to their lives and families.

Ratings and reviews

This book was devastating, and I couldn't even imagine the horrible experiences they were put through. I was extremely bummed about how things are going in my life, and how I am as a person when I started reading this book. After a few pages in those depressed feelings were gone, because I realizes I was complaining about nonsense. There are other terrible things happening around me. I am now telling myself that those sad thoughts I had before reading this book are nothing compared to what they survived.

Amazing!!! It is indeed remarkable to see what the human spirit can endure and rebound from. This story had to be told. At first, I was a little perplexed that the three women did not write their stories together. Now, I understand that their stories were vastly different from one another. So glad that this story was told

I feel for these young ladies so much, but just a rehash of what Ms Knight has described already. Everyone talked so harshly about how this was the book to read and Ms,Knights was such rubbish and made up stories for attention, but guess she wasn't a liar after all huh!?!

About the author

Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan are journalists for The Washington Post who write about national and foreign news. They are longtime foreign correspondents who have been based in Tokyo, Mexico City and London. Winners of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, they are also the authors of The Prison Angel: Mother Antonia's Journey from Beverly Hills to a Life of Service in a Mexican Jail. They live in Washington, D.C., with their two children.