My Story

Elizabeth Smart · Chris Stewart

Oct 2013 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

The harrowing true story of abduction and survival from the courageous young woman who lived it—now the subject of a Lifetime original movie, I Am Elizabeth Smart.

In this memoir, Elizabeth Smart reveals how she survived and the secret to forging a new life in the wake of a brutal crime. On 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 Barzee. Elizabeth 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.

With My Story, Elizabeth 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 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. She and her husband, Matthew Gilmour, now have two children.

Ratings and reviews

A beautiful story of faith in God so deep and love for family so strong that even suffering through the most horrendous of things most people couldn't imagine couldn't bring Elizabeth Smart down to a place she couldn't overcome. With God given miracles through her whole ordeal helping her to know he was by her side the whole time. One of the best books I've ever read that I couldn't put it down until I finished it..

Smart glosses over major events and leaves the reader wanting to know more. She does not get into any detail about her abuse, her state of mind after rescue and simply speaks to her feelings only during her captivity. Writing is good, but this is not a tell-all book like she claims it is. Jaycee Dugards book is a tell all.

This book captures well what happened during those 9 months. I'm surprised by how much Smart remembers after 10 years. She can still describe the tension, fear, and scene of the whole thing. I felt by her side, knowing her thoughts while reading this book. The voice here is very young - like it was written at the time it was all happening. She makes you feel very in the moment. It's a relatively easy book to understand, though there are big words here and there. And many references to God, cause her captors were religious fanatics, and her faith helped her throughout. But she doesn't persuade you to believe her belief or anything like that.This book is not too graphic, the gory details are not vividly explained, which ofc is Smart's choice, plus this wasn't written to entertain.This book is great to understand the pace of the ordeal - sometimes we just see it as rape, abuse, torture; all that overwhelming stuff. But the book shows it event-by-event. Smart's one of the strongest person.

About the author

ELIZABETH SMART is an American activist and president of the Elizabeth Smart Foundation. She first gained widespread attention at age fourteen when she was kidnapped from her home and rescued nine months later. Smart's #1 New York Times bestselling memoir My Story describes her experience, and her follow-up, Where There's Hope, is an inspiring guide to healing after trauma.

Chris Stewart is a former U. S. Air Force pilot assigned to fly the SR-71 Blackbird and B-1 bomber. He is the author of successful and acclaimed thrillers including Shattered Bone, The Kill Box, and The Third Consequence. He lives in Farmington, Utah.