The other side of the story, and the other other.

My Name is Mahtob:
The Story That
Began the Global Phenomenon Not Without My Daughter Continues

by Mahtob Mahmoody

Those who read Not Without My Daughter should be forewarned--the first 10 chapters of this are the same story told from the perspective of an adult remembering experiences from her childhood. I got the impression from something she said that she did not read that book before writing her own memories of the time, but I'd like to know for sure. I don't doubt her own memories of events, but it seems odd that it so closely parallels her mother's. The writing style, too, seems very similar.

But all of that is not important. Those chapters were just the prologue--the meat of the book comes next--how in the world can a person go on living after such a traumatic childhood, and it's not over! For many years both she and her mother are constantly afraid that the father will come to American and haul her away...or has he hired someone to stalk her?  The last few chapters, when she corresponds with a family friend who managed to open a dialog with her father, are especially disturbing. But her survival in spite of everything makes a story so uplifting you might want to cry.

Now I'm wondering if I should read her mother's book For the Love of a Child. it tells her mother's continuing story plus those of other victims of parental abduction.