Lost Without My Daughter

In 1987, American housewife Betty Mahmoody published Not Without My Daughter, which became a sensation. In the book, Betty claimed that she and Mahtob, her five-year-old daughter, had been kidnapped from the USA in 1984 and imprisoned in Tehran by her Iranian husband, Dr Sayed Mahmoody - aka 'Moody' - a man she vilified as a violent, sadistic monster. Betty's story culminated with a dramatic escape, as she takes her daughter from Iran over the Zagros Mountains and into Turkey. The book sold 12 million copies and inspired the 1991 Hollywood film of the same name, starring Oscar-winner Sally Field. For twenty years Betty's husband has kept silent. Now, in Lost Without My Daughter, Sayed Mahmoody finally reveals the astonishing truth. As well as being a moving, frank story of a once happy family's collapse, and a father's subsequent search for meaning in his life, Lost Without My Daughter is also a cultural and political history of Iran, from the revolution to the present day. Perhaps more than anything, it is an exercise in truth, the last-ditch attempt of a father desperate to reach his daughter, to let her know that he is not the monster he has been portrayed to be.

The true story of Betty Mahmoody's escape from Iran with her daughter after her Iranian husband attempted to turn a two-week vacation into a permanent relocation and a life of subservience for Betty and her daughter.

The daughter at the center of the international bestseller Not Without My Daughter completes her story: escaping from Iran, growing up in fear, battling deadly disease, and learning to forgive. Two decades ago, millions of readers worldwide thrilled to the story told in the international bestseller Not Without My Daughter—subsequently made into a film starring Sally Field—that told of an American mother and her six-year-old child’s daring escape from an abusive and tyrannical Iranian husband and father. Now the daughter returns to tell the whole story, not only of that imprisonment and escape but of life after fleeing Tehran: living in fear of re-abduction, enduring recurring nightmares and panic attacks, attending school under a false name, battling life-threatening illness—all under the menacing shadow of her father. This is the story of an extraordinary young woman’s triumph over life-crushing trauma to build a life of peace and forgiveness. Taking readers from Michigan to Iran and from Ankara, Turkey, to Paris, France, My Name Is Mahtob depicts the profound resilience of a wounded soul healed by faith in God’s goodness and in his care and love. And Mahmoody reveals the secret of how she liberated herself from a life of fear, learning to forgive the father who had shattered her life and discovering joy and peace that comes from doing so.

A pregnancy pact between three teenaged girls puts their mothers' love to the ultimate test in this explosive new novel from Barbara Delinsky, “a first-rate storyteller who creates characters as familiar as your neighbors.” (Boston Globe) When Susan Tate's seventeen-year-old daughter, Lily, announces she is pregnant, Susan is stunned. A single mother, she has struggled to do everything right. She sees the pregnancy as an unimaginable tragedy for both Lily and herself. Then comes word of two more pregnancies among high school juniors who happen to be Lily's best friends-and the town turns to talk of a pact. As fingers start pointing, the most ardent criticism is directed at Susan. As principal of the high school, she has always been held up as a role model of hard work and core values. Now her detractors accuse her of being a lax mother, perhaps not worthy of the job of shepherding impressionable students. As Susan struggles with the implications of her daughter's pregnancy, her job, financial independence, and long-fought-for dreams are all at risk. The emotional ties between mothers and daughters are stretched to breaking in this emotionally wrenching story of love and forgiveness. Once again, Barbara Delinsky has given us a powerful novel, one that asks a central question: What does it take to be a good mother?

A charming and heartwarming true story for anyone who has ever longed for a place to belong. “Anne of Green Gables,” My Daughter, and Me is a witty romp through the classic novel; a visit to the magical shores of Prince Edward Island; and a poignant personal tale of love, faith, and loss. And it all started with a simple question: “What’s an orphan?” The words from her adopted daughter, Phoebe, during a bedtime reading of Anne of Green Gables stopped Lorilee Craker in her tracks. How could Lorilee, who grew up not knowing her own birth parents, answer Phoebe’s question when she had wrestled all her life with feeling orphaned—and learned too well that not every story has a happy ending? So Lorilee set off on a quest to find answers in the pages of the very book that started it all, determined to discover—and teach her daughter—what home, family, and belonging really mean. If you loved the poignancy of Orphan Train and the humor of Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, you will be captivated by “Anne of Green Gables,” My Daughter, and Me. It’s a beautiful memoir that deftly braids three lost girls’ stories together, speaks straight to the heart of the orphan in us all, and shows us the way home at last.

My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me: 1. I’m in a coma. 2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore. 3. Sometimes I lie. Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can’t move. She can’t speak. She can’t open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller asks: Is something really a lie if you believe it's the truth?

From the global bestselling author of THE GIRL IN THE LETTER comes a gripping and heartbreaking novel of family secrets. 'Utterly gripping, taut and powerful. An emotionally charged, compulsive, moving novel' Adele Parks 'Captivating and suspenseful' Jessica Fellowes 'I so enjoyed it. Twists and turns... Hours of gripping entertainment and a great many tears' Lesley Pearse _______________ Some secrets are locked away for years . . . Rebecca Waterhouse is just thirteen when she witnesses her mother's death at the hand of her father in Seaview Cottage. But what else did she see? Years later, Rebecca's daughters Iris and Jessie know their mother will never speak of that terrible night. But when Jessie goes missing, with her gravely ill newborn, Iris realises the past may hold the key to her sister's disappearance. With Jessie in trouble, Iris must unravel a twisting story of love and betrayal in her mother's family history. Only then will Seaview Cottage give up its dark and tragic secret... *Previously published as The Lost Child* Emily Gunnis's new novel The Midwife's Secret is available NOW _______________ READERS ADORE EMILY GUNNIS'S MESMERISING NOVELS: 'A truly brilliant and moving read. I loved it' Karen Hamilton 'Loss, betrayal and a decades-old secret... BRILLIANT' Heat magazine 'A wonderfully woven novel, full of family secrets that will sweep you away into another time. I loved it more than I could possibly convey in words' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reader Review 'One of my reading highlights of the year and it has only made me more eager to read many more books from Emily Gunnis' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reader Review 'I'd give this book 10* if I could' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reader Review 'Wow! I can't remember reading a book so quickly for a very long time. Couldn't put it down but didn't want it to finish. A must read' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reader Review 'Written so beautifully, such attention to detail, her words and mesmerising characters take hold of every emotion within you' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reader Review 'This story grabbed hold of me and sucked me in. Heartbreaking, emotional, gripping, suspenseful and will keep you on the edge of your seat right to the very last chapter' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reader Review

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE PopSugar – The Summer’s Hottest Books * Refinery 29 - Best Summer Thrillers * US Weekly - Summer's Best Send-Offs * Parade - 20 Chilling Thrillers by Women to Read This Year * Brit + Co - 15 New Thrillers by Women That Will Give You Chills This Summer * The Zoe Report – 20 Books to Read this Summer * She Reads - New Summer Thrillers to Get Your Heart Racing * Working Mother - 15 Hot New Summer Beach Reads * Culturalist - Top Ten Domestic Thrillers That Will Make You Question Everything * Crime Reads - 5 Debut Crime Novels to Read This August "Brings to mind Jodi Picoult...thought-provoking domestic drama." - Booklist “Will make you miss your bedtime, guaranteed.” – Bestselling author Kimberly Belle Gripping, emotional, and wire-taut, Not Her Daughter raises the question of what it means to be a mother—and how far someone will go to keep a child safe. Emma Townsend. Five years old. Gray eyes, brown hair. Missing since June. Emma is lonely. Living with her cruel mother and clueless father, Emma retreats into her own world of quiet and solitude. Sarah Walker. Successful entrepreneur. Broken-hearted. Kidnapper. Sarah has never seen a girl so precious as the gray-eyed child in a crowded airport terminal. When a second-chance encounter with Emma presents itself, Sarah takes her—far away from home. But if it’s to rescue a little girl from her damaging mother, is kidnapping wrong? Amy Townsend. Unhappy wife. Unfit mother. Unsure whether she wants her daughter back. Amy’s life is a string of disappointments, but her biggest issue is her inability to connect with her daughter. And now Emma is gone without a trace. As Sarah and Emma avoid the nationwide hunt, they form an unshakeable bond. But what about Emma’s real mother, back at home? Praise for Not Her Daughter “The plot twists here are brave, the themes are both poignant and unsettling, and the resolution is deeply resonant. A page-turner with heart!" - New York Times bestselling author Kate Moretti "A cleverly constructed novel that will have you questioning everything you believe about right or wrong." - New York Times bestselling author Chevy Stevens "Engrossing and suspenseful, Frey writes her characters with depth and compassion, challenging readers to question their own code of ethics.” - Zoje Stage, author of Baby Teeth “An emotional ride where the line between right and wrong begins to fade...pulls you in from the very first page, and unlike most in its genre, you won't know how you want it to end until it does.” – Wendy Walker, author of Emma in the Night