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2023 Dinner Hosts
MULTIPLE AUTHOR DINNER PARTY SELECTIONS
Group Dinner #1 – Carmela Ciuraru, Jean Hanff Korelitz, Wesley Lowery, Gaelin Rosenwaks, Chris Whipple
Carmela Ciuraru
Lives of the Wives: Five Literary Marriages
Lives of the Wives is a witty, provocative look inside the tumultuous marriages of five writers, illuminating the creative process as well as the role of money, power, and fame in these complex and fascinating relationships. The history of wives is largely one of silence, resilience, and forbearance. Toss in celebrity, male privilege, ruthless ambition, narcissism, misogyny, infidelity, alcoholism, and a mood disorder or two, and it’s easy to understand why the marriages of so many famous writers have been stormy, short-lived, and mutually destructive. “A tour de force….the stories Ciuraru tells are gripping, horrific, and sometimes even funny—but most of all they are important.” —Washington Post
Jean Hanff Korelitz
The Latecomer
*A New York Times Notable Book of 2022* *A Washington Post Notable Work of Fiction* *An NPR Best Book of the Year* *A New Yorker Best Book of 2022*
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Plot, Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Latecomer is a layered and immersive literary novel about three siblings, desperate to escape one another, and the upending of their family by the late arrival of a fourth.
Wesley Lowery
American Whitelash: A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress
Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Wesley Lowery confronts the sickness at the heart of American society: the cyclical pattern of violence that has marred every moment of racial progress in this country, and whose bloodshed began anew following Obama’s 2008 election.
Gaelin Rosenwaks
Sperm Whales: The Gentle Goliaths of the Ocean
For centuries, we have been fascinated by the sperm whale—the world’s largest toothed predator. Now you can experience an intimate underwater journey to connect with these majestic and gentle goliaths. Inspired by a life-changing childhood experience, Gaelin Rosenwaks set off on a journey to tell the story of sperm whale families through photography and film. What she found is that these animals live in matriarchal family units made up of remarkable females that stay together for generations. Rosenwaks’s years as a marine biologist, diver, and underwater filmmaker and photographer prepared her to tell this beautifully stirring story with never-before-seen photographs of the world’s most marvelous ocean species.
Chris Whipple
The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Gatekeepers comes a revelatory, news-making look at how President Joe Biden and his seasoned team have battled to achieve their agenda—based on the author’s extraordinary access to the White House during two years of crises at home and abroad. With remarkable access to both President Biden and his inner circle, Whipple pulls back the curtain on the internal power struggles and back-room compromises. In The Fight of His Life, Whipple takes us inside the Oval Office as the critical decisions of Biden’s presidency are being made—delivering a stunning portrait of politics on the edge.
Group Dinner #2 – Jane Ferguson, Linda Villarosa, Shane Weeks
Jane Ferguson
No Ordinary Assignment: A Memoir
From award-winning journalist Jane Ferguson, an unflinching memoir of ambition and war—from The Troubles to the fall of Kabul. A foreign correspondent for PBS NewsHour, Ferguson has covered nearly every war front and humanitarian crisis of our time. Her bold debut chronicles her unlikely journey from bright, inquisitive child to intrepid war correspondent. With an open-hearted humanity we rarely see in conflict stories, No Ordinary Assignment shows what it means to build an authentic career against the odds. “A haunting memoir of disarming honesty. . . a remarkable testament to the anguish and the beauty of foreign correspondence.”—Roger Cohen, New York Times Paris bureau chief
Linda Villarosa
Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation
A Pulitzer Prize finalist and one of The New York Times’ 10 Best Books of 2022. From an award-winning writer at The New York Times Magazine and a contributor to the 1619 Project comes a landmark book that tells the full story of racial health disparities in America, revealing the toll racism takes on individuals and the health of our nation. Anchored by unforgettable human stories and offering incontrovertible proof, Under the Skin is dramatic, tragic, and necessary reading. “A stunning exposé of why Black people in our society ‘live sicker and die quicker’—an eye-opening gamechanger.”—Oprah Daily
Shane Weeks
Good Neighbors: A Shinnecock History From A Shinnecock Perspective
A history of the Shinnecock Indian Nation as seen through the eyes of the author, Shane Weeks. “For many years, Shane Weeks of the Shinnecock Nation has worked to bridge the gap between his community and those unfamiliar with its history and culture, and in 2022, he took a major step toward that goal with the release of his debut book. A lifelong dream that began to materialize in 2017, Good Neighbors is a long-awaited exploration of local history through a Shinnecock lens and a primer on this Indigenous nation’s rich culture and traditions.” —Dan’s Papers
Group Dinner #3 – Carolyn Ferrell, Susan Isaacs
Carolyn Ferrell
Dear Miss Metropolitan: A Novel
An extraordinarily original writer, Ferrell’s first novel explores the intersections of grief and rage, personal strength and healing—and what we owe one another. Fern seeks refuge from her mother’s pill-popping and boyfriends via Soul Train; Gwin finds salvation in the music of Prince much to her congregation’s dismay and Jesenia, miles ahead of her classmates at her gifted and talented high school, is a brainy and precocious enigma. None of this matters to Boss Man, the monster who abducts them and holds them captive in a dilapidated house in Queens.
Susan Isaacs
Bad, Bad Seymour Brown
New York Times bestselling author Susan Isaacs returns to a pair of her readers’ favorite characters, former FBI agent Corie Geller and her retired cop dad, who must solve one of the NYPD’s coldest homicide cases—before the crime’s sole survivor is killed. When Corie Geller asked her parents to move from their apartment into the suburban McMansion she shares with her husband and teenage daughter, she assumed they’d fit right in with the placid life she’d opted for when she left the Joint Anti-terrorism Task Force of the FBI. But then her retired NYPD detective father gets a call from one of the victims of a case he was never able to solve.
Susan Patterson
Things I Wish I Told My Mother
Susan Solie Patterson has a Bachelor of Science/Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she was also an All-American swimmer. She is the author of Big Words for Little Geniuses, a New York Times bestseller.
Group Dinner #4 – David Netto, Paulina Porizkova
David Netto
Stephen Sills: A Vision For Design
A true icon and unique artistic voice in the design world, Stephen Sills is renowned for his ability not only to design innovative and beautiful rooms but also to establish a pervasive atmosphere of luxury and calm. This is an in-depth look at several of his most recent projects, stunning homes located in New York City; the West Coast of Florida; the Hamptons; New Jersey, and Connecticut, as well as Sills’s own residences. The book is rich with creative collaborators: a foreword by one of Sills’s longtime clients, Tina Turner; text by David Netto, himself an AD100 designer; and a conversation on gardens with Sills’s longtime friend and neighbor, Martha Stewart.
Paulina Porizkova
No Filter: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful
Writer and former model Paulina Porizkova pens a series of intimate, introspective, and enlightening essays about the complexities of womanhood at every age, pulling back the glossy magazine cover and writing from the heart. This is a wise and compelling exploration of heartbreak, grief, beauty, aging, relationships, re-invention and finding your purpose. In these essays, Porizkova bares her soul and shares the lessons she’s learned—often the hard way. After a lifetime of being looked at, she is ready to be heard. “Porizkova is uniquely positioned to write about the beauty industry, the fetishization of youth, aging in the public eye, and yes, feminism.” —TIME
Group Dinner #5 – Rachel L. Swarns, Mark Whitaker
Rachel L. Swarns
The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church
In 1838, a group of America’s most prominent Catholic priests sold 272 enslaved people to save their largest mission project, what is now Georgetown University. In this groundbreaking account, journalist, author, and professor Rachel L. Swarns follows one family through nearly two centuries of indentured servitude and enslavement to uncover the harrowing origin story of the Catholic Church in the United States. A professor of journalism at New York University, Swarns writes about race and relations as a contributing writer for The New York Times. Her articles about Georgetown University touched off a national conversation about universities with ties to slavery.
Mark Whitaker
Saying It Loud: 1966―The Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement
Journalist and author Mark Whitaker explores the momentous year that redefined the civil rights movement as a new sense of Black identity expressed in the slogan “Black Power” challenged the nonviolent philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lewis. In gripping, novelistic detail, Saying It Loud tells the story of how the Black Power phenomenon began to challenge the traditional civil rights movement in the turbulent year of 1966. Deeply researched and widely reported, Saying It Loud offers brilliant portraits of the major characters in the yearlong drama, and provides new details and insights from key players and journalists who covered the story.
Group Dinner #6 – Leslie Banker, Eric Groft
Leslie Banker
Think Like A Decorator: To Create a Comfortable, Original, and Stylish Home
A reassuring, idea-filled guide to decorating by interior designer Leslie Banker, enriched by advice and contributions from other prominent decorators. Banker grew up learning the trade by her decorator mother’s side. The most important thing her mother taught her was that thinking like a decorator means focusing on developing the story of the space and its inhabitants. That story is what gives a place style, depth, character, and its own unique look, as well as—most importantly—makes the people who live there happy. Think Like a Decorator shows readers how to do just that.
Eric Groft
Beyond Bold: Inspiration, Collaboration, Evolution
Beyond Bold follows the next generation of leadership at Oehme van Sweden, a renowned landscape architecture firm that’s been creating extraordinary outdoor spaces for nearly 50 years. With 320 pages of vibrant photographs, detailed project plans, and first-hand commentary from principals Sheila Brady, Lisa Delplace, and Eric Groft, the book is a one-of-a-kind record of OvS’ history and evolution. Building upon OvS’ reputation for sustainable, client-tailored residential design, the current leaders have developed an oeuvre that’s as legacy-driven as it is exploratory. Beyond Bold is an image-rich study of some of the most geographically and stylistically diverse landscape projects by the top players in the industry.
Group Dinner #7 – Susan Elia MacNeal, Jim Popkin
Susan Elia MacNeal
Mother Daughter Traitor Spy: A Novel
From the New York Times bestselling author of the Maggie Hope series comes a tantalizing standalone novel inspired by a real-life mother-daughter duo who stumble upon an underground Nazi cell in Los Angeles during the early days of World War II—and find the courage to go undercover. Inspired by the real mother-daughter spy duo who foiled Nazi plots in Los Angeles during WWII, Mother Daughter Traitor Spy is a powerful portrait of family, duty, and deception that raises timeless questions about America—and what it means to have courage in the face of terror. “A suspenseful page-turner…Riveting!”—Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author
Jim Popkin
Code Name Blue Wren: The True Story of America’s Most Dangerous Female Spy―and the Sister She Betrayed
The incredible true story of Ana Montes, the most damaging female spy in US history, drawing upon never-before-seen material. Like spies Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen before her, Montes blindsided her colleagues with brazen acts of treason. For nearly 17 years, she succeeded in two high-stress jobs. By day she was one of the government’s top Cuba experts, by night she was on the clock for Fidel Castro. Montes didn’t just deceive her country. Her betrayal was intensely personal. Her brother and sister-in-law were FBI Special Agents, and her sister Lucy also worked her entire career for the Bureau. “A must-read for espionage fans.”—Publishers Weekly
Group Dinner #8 – Jamila Ahmed, Jeremy Eichler, Crystal Smith Paul, Peter M. Wolf
Jamila Ahmed
Every Rising Sun: A Novel
In this riveting take on One Thousand and One Nights, Shaherazade, at the center of her own story, uses wit and political mastery to navigate opulent palaces brimming with treachery and the perils of the Third Crusade as her Persian homeland teeters on the brink of destruction. This suspenseful first-person retelling is vividly rendered through the voice of a fully imagined Shaherazade, a book lover whose late mother bestowed the gift of story that becomes her power. Created over fourteen years of writing and research, Jamila Ahmed’s gorgeously written debut is a celebration of storytelling and a love letter to the medieval Islamic world that brings to life one of the most enduring and intriguing woman characters of all time.
Jeremy Eichler
Time’s Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance
In Time’s Echo, the award-winning critic and cultural historian Jeremy Eichler makes a passionate and revelatory case for the power of music as culture’s memory, an art form uniquely capable of carrying forward meaning from the past. With a critic’s ear, a scholar’s erudition, and a novelist’s eye for detail, Eichler shows how four towering composers—Richard Strauss, Arnold Schoenberg, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Benjamin Britten—lived through the era of the Second World War and the Holocaust and later transformed their experiences into deeply moving, transcendent works of music, scores that echo lost time. “Jeremy Eichler shows how listening to history through its music can transport us in mind, body, and spirit…” —Yo-Yo Ma
Crystal Smith Paul
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?: A Novel
Reese Witherspoon’s May 2023 Book Club pick, this multigenerational saga traverses the glamour of old Hollywood and the seductive draw of modern-day showbiz. When Kitty Karr Tate, a White icon of the silver screen, dies and bequeaths her multimillion-dollar estate to the St. John sisters, three young, wealthy Black women, it prompts questions. Lots of questions. Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? is a sprawling page-turner set against the backdrop of the Hollywood machine, an insightful and nuanced look at the inheritances of family, race, and gender―and the choices some women make to break free of them.
Peter M. Wolf
The Sugar King: Leon Godchaux: A New Orleans Legend, His Creole Slave, and His Jewish Roots
Peter M. Wolf unearths Southern Jewish history in this major new work. A penniless, illiterate, Jewish thirteen-year-old from France crosses the Atlantic alone. Landing in raucous and polyglot New Orleans in 1837, he starts out as a peddler of notions to plantations along the Mississippi. He remains unable to read or to write in English or in French his entire life. Nevertheless, by the end of his intrigue-filled life, Leon Godchaux is known as the “Sugar King of Louisiana,” the owner of fourteen plantations, the largest sugar producer in the region and the top taxpayer in the state. He refuses to enter the sugar business until the end of slavery.
*This Dinner Party will also feature authors Jamila Ahmed, Jeremy Eichler, and Crystal Smith Paul
Group Dinner #9 – Alexandra Auder & James Sturz
Alexandra Auder
Don’t Call Me Home: A Memoir
Alexandra Auder’s life began at the Chelsea Hotel—New York City’s infamous bohemian hangout—when her mother, Viva, a longtime resident of the hotel and one of Andy Warhol’s superstars, went into labor in the lobby. These first moments of Alexandra’s life, documented by her filmmaker father, Michel Auder, portended the whirlwind childhood and teen years that would follow. Don’t Call Me Home is a moving and wickedly funny memoir about one woman’s life as the daughter of a Warhol superstar and the intimate bonds of mother-daughter relationships. “Alexandra tells the best stories about her extraordinary childhood… Wit and wisdom wrapped and bound with love.” –Debbie Harry
James Sturz
Underjungle
Underjungle asks readers to give themselves up to another world: to step outside not just of themselves, but of their species. A broad metaphysical story of fantastical world-building from accomplished journalist and nature writer James Sturz, Underjungle is a lyrical tale of love and war, encompassing the marine environment, science, art, philosophy and grief—as deep and surprising as life on the seafloor, where much of this story is set.
Buoyed by humor and tinged with the unshakeable melancholy of loss is the existential question that forever ties the novel to our human experience: what is our purpose?
Group Dinner #10 – Jim Acosta, Maggie Haberman
Jim Acosta
The Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America
A New York Times bestseller. From CNN’s veteran Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta, an explosive, first-hand account of the dangers he faces reporting on the current White House while fighting on the front lines in President Trump’s war on truth, featuring new material exclusive to the paperback edition.
Maggie Haberman
Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America
An instant #1 New York Times bestseller from the Pulitzer-Prize-winning New York Times reporter who has defined Donald J. Trump’s presidency like no other journalist, Confidence Man is a magnificent and disturbing reckoning that chronicles his life and its meaning from his rise in New York City to his tortured post-presidency. Few journalists working today have covered Donald Trump more extensively than Maggie Haberman. And few understand him and his motivations better. Now, demonstrating her majestic command of this story, Haberman reveals in full the depth of her understanding of the 45th president himself, and of what the Trump phenomenon means.
SINGLE AUTHOR DINNER PARTY SELECTIONS
Don Bentley
Forgotten War (A Matt Drake Novel)
A brotherhood born in battle is endangered by a deadly secret in Forgotten War, the latest astonishing thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Tom Clancy Zero Hour and Hostile Intent and the Matt Drake thriller series including Hostile Intent, The Outside Man, and Without Sanction. “A fascinating, action-packed thriller from one of the genre’s most talented authors. Don Bentley delivers a blistering adventure loaded with excitement and fabulous characters. “You will not want it to end!”—Brad Thor. “Forgotten War is an unforgettable read.” —Nelson DeMille. “Sensationally good—I want more Matt Drake.” —Lee Child
Geoffrey Berman
Holding the Line: Inside the Nation’s Preeminent US Attorney’s Office and Its Battle with the Trump Justice Department
The gripping and explosive memoir of serving as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in the face of the Justice Department’s attempts to protect Trump’s friends and punish his enemies. Holding the Line also relates the remarkable casework of the Southern District in Berman’s time there, including taking down notorious sex traffickers Jeffrey Epstein and Lawrence Ray, Big Pharma executives, and vicious criminal syndicates, and repatriating Nazi-looted art. Riveting in themselves, these stories showcase the esprit de corps that makes the Southern District unparalleled, and the stakes Berman felt in protecting its integrity against all foes, up to and including the US Attorney General and the President of the United States.
Patrick Bringley
All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me
A fascinating, revelatory portrait of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and its treasures by a former New Yorker staffer who spent a decade as a museum guard. Bringley entered the museum as a ghost, silent and almost invisible, but soon found his voice and his tribe: the artworks and their creators and the lively subculture of museum guards—a gorgeous mosaic of artists, musicians, blue-collar stalwarts, immigrants, cutups, and dreamers. In the tradition of classic workplace memoirs, All The Beauty in the World is a surprising, inspiring portrait of a great museum, its hidden treasures, and the people who make it tick, by one of its most intimate observers.
Misty Copeland
The Wind at My Back: Resilience, Grace, and Other Gifts from My Mentor, Raven Wilkinson
From celebrated ballerina and New York Times bestselling author Misty Copeland, a heartfelt memoir about her friendship with trailblazer Raven Wilkinson which captures the importance of mentorship, shared history, and honoring the past to ensure a stronger future. Copeland made history as the first African-American principal ballerina at the American Ballet Theatre. Her talent, passion, and perseverance enabled her to make strides no one had accomplished before. But achievement never happens in a void. Behind her, supporting her rise was her mentor Wilkinson. The Wind at My Back tells the story of two unapologetically Black ballerinas, their friendship, and how they changed each other—and the dance world—forever.
Joanna Grover
The Choice Point: The Scientifically Proven Method to Push Past Mental Walls and Achieve Your Goals
Discover a scientifically proven method to overcome obstacles and make choices that lead us closer to our goals—featuring a foreword by Martina Navratilova. Grounded in science, Functional Imagery Training (FIT) helps us lengthen our Choice Point: that moment when we say to ourselves, “Am I going to make the healthy decision, or am I going to choose to take an action that I know will undermine my success?” Merging mindfulness, motivational interviewing, and cognitive behavioral therapy into a user-friendly model—the first non-academic book of its kind—The Choice Point grants us control of the decisions that define us.
Kristy Woodson Harvey
The Summer of Songbirds
Four women come together to save the summer camp that changed their lives and rediscover themselves in the process in this moving new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding Veil and the Peachtree Bluff series. Nearly thirty years ago, in the wake of a personal tragedy, June Moore bought Camp Holly Springs and turned it into a thriving summer haven for girls. But now, June is in danger of losing the place she has sacrificed everything for and begins to realize how much she has used the camp to avoid facing difficulties in her life.
Robert Hofler
The Way They Were: How Epic Battles and Bruised Egos Brought a Classic Hollywood Love Story to the Screen
Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of “The Way We Were,” this intriguing and impeccably researched book is the first ever account of the making of the classic film starring Barbara Streisand and Robert Redford, revealing the full story behind its genesis and continued controversies, its many deleted scenes, its much-anticipated but never-filmed sequel, and the real-life romance that inspired this groundbreaking love story…
Aliza Licht
On Brand: Shape Your Narrative. Share Your Vision. Shift Their Perception
From bestselling author Aliza Licht, On Brand is part career book, part personal growth guide and will help you answer the question: What’s on brand for you? Ideal for anyone seeking personal development to help them level up, pivot professionally, or for support through a transition. This personal branding book has the best practices for anyone–whether you’re just starting to consider your personal brand or have decided to rebrand yourself–to help you engage the world, to be known and understood so you can prosper professionally, personally, and financially. “Part career book, part personal growth guide…for anyone looking to make a professional pivot.” —New York Post
Lisa Rosenblum & Nina Rosenblum
A Humanist Vision: The Naomi Rosenblum Family Collection
The first publication of the remarkable personal collection of eminent photographic historian Naomi Rosenblum (1925–2021), the leading historian of photography in her lifetime. Her two major books, A World History of Photography and A History of Women Photographers, furthered the recognition of photography as a central art form of the twentieth century, and one in which women played a critical role. This beautifully designed volume, conceived by Naomi and her daughters, Nina and Lisa, marks the first publication of the family’s exceptional collection, which is focused on work that combines aesthetic considerations with humanist values.
Ángel Santamarina & Erica Broberg Smith
I See Better with My Eyes Closed: Conversations with Spiritual Healer, Ángel Santamarina
I See Better with My Eyes Closed details conversations with a world travelling spiritual healer, who graciously shares what he sees, without restraint or editing— for ‘seekers’ of any nationality or ethnicity or anyone who is interested in learning more about faith, God, and what else lies beyond our human perceptions. Readers will “embark on a fantastical journey through numerous realms of heaven and learn about the many beings that reside there. Learn about the truth of our very limited reality as humans and see beyond it through Ángel’s extraordinary Gift from God.”
Lewis M. Simons
To Tell the Truth: My Life as a Foreign Correspondent
Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Lewis M. Simons recollects his 50 years as a foreign correspondent, one whose powerful stories contributed to transforming Asia from Vietnam War-era basket case to a global boomtown that today rivals the United States. Layered with moments of tenderness and humor, the result is a masterful chronicle of war and murder; extreme poverty and suffering alongside repellent wealth and indulgence; wholesale larceny and ruling-class corruption—much of which escaped the scrutiny of other journalists. Readers who appreciate real-life historic drama will be enthralled. “Simons is a wonderful storyteller and this is an invaluable chronicle of the experiences of a foreign correspondent.” ―Booklist
Susan Spungen
Veg Forward: Super-Delicious Recipes that Put Produce at the Center of Your Plate
Stylish, practical meals that put vegetables first, by “an authentic culinary star” (Boston Globe) and the founding food editor of Martha Stewart Living. Veg Forward is full of extraordinary recipes for ordinary vegetables like tomatoes, corn, and potatoes, and it also offers beguiling choices for less familiar ones like fava beans, kohlrabi, and nettles. Everything in this book makes cooking with vegetables easier, better, and more satisfying. Spungen also shares scores of tips from her years as a caterer and chef. A New York Times contributor, Spungen was also the culinary consultant and food stylist for the hit movies Julie & Julia and Eat, Pray, Love.
Sally Susman
Breaking Through: Communicating to Open Minds, Move Hearts, and Change the World
In this wise and inspiring book, Pfizer’s trailblazing communications leader, Sally Susman, reveals how we can break through the noise to get our message across and make positive change. The renowned head of corporate affairs at the global biopharmaceutical giant, Susman tells the fascinating story of how the company managed the massive communications challenge that came with Covid-19 and the race to produce an effective vaccine. Just as crucial as creating the vaccine itself was the task of winning people’s hearts and minds, and Susman highlights the principles that enabled her to break through, connect, and help move people forward, not only at Pfizer but over a long and stellar career.
Mae Bunseng Taing & James Taing
Under the Naga Tail: A True Story of Survival, Bravery, and Escape from the Cambodian Genocide
A courageous and poignant memoir of one young man’s daring escape from Cambodia’s genocidal regime. Forced from his home by the Khmer Rouge, teenager Mae Taing struggles to endure years of backbreaking work, constant starvation, and ruthless cruelty from his captors—supposed freedom fighters who turned against their own people. He risks torture and death to escape into the dark tropical jungles, and eventually, war-torn Cambodia. This gripping and inspiring memoir, written with Mae’s son, James, is not merely an incredible story of survival, but a testament to the human spirit’s capacity in us all to endure and prevail in spite of great adversity.