Pieces of Me: Rescuing My Kidnapped Daughters, by Lizbeth Meredith

A few months ago, my cousin, Richard, told me about a friend of his that he met in Alaska when he worked up there.  He was on the board of a women's shelter that the author, Lizbeth, worked at.  And she was trying to raise money to go to Greece and reclaim her 2 daughters, 4 and 6, who had been kidnapped by her ex-husband and taken back to his homeland.  Richard told me she wrote a book about her experiences, and I immediately bought it.  And it sat in my TBR pile...and sat...and sat...  Then a couple of weeks before we were going to see him and his wife again, I figured I should read it.  All I can say is Wow!  This is some book.

Let's get right to the punchline.  We find out on pages ix and x that Lizbeth was successful in getting her girls back.  And, today, they are adults and are doing fine.  You want to know the mark of a good writer? It's making you feel the tension and the uncertainty of a situation when you already know the outcome.  And let me tell you that there were definitely moments in Pieces of Me when I wondered what was going to happen next.  Did I forget that she got them back?  Nope.  Did I worry anyway while reading it?  Yep.

You all know my obsession with connecting with the at least the protagonist, whether it's a memoir, like this, or a fictional genre.  Did I connect with Lizbeth?  I must have because I teared up IN THE PROLOGUE!  Are you kidding me?  But I will also say that there was humor right off the bat.  Don't get me wrong. This book is most decidedly not funny.  But it helped to break up the drama a little bit. Other than that, though, I had moments of outrage and uttered a "few" mild expletives.  There are even some moments when it was all done that hit Lizbeth as if she had been in a war.  When you read the book, I think you will feel the same way that I felt.  Memoirs can be sketchy and unpredictable.  This is one that I think everybody will get wrapped up in. Because of what Lizbeth had to do, and then did, you won't be sorry you read it.

P.S.  If you live in the Bay Area, Lizbeth is flying down from Alaska to come to our RBC meeting on March 20.  How cool is that?  For those who are interested in attending, and don't get the regular RBC emails, contact me at lloydrrussell@gmail.com, and I will give you details.

P.P.S.  I am using a new computer.  Sorry about all the random stuff on the left of the page.  I will make sure that doesn't appear next time.