Book picks similar to
Ordeal by Fire by Rita Nayar
non-fiction
true-crime
autobiography
canada
Court in the Middle
Andrew Fraser - 2007
Then it all went horribly wrong. In 1999 he was charged with being knowingly concerned with the importation of a commercial quantity of cocaine. Fraser pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing, trafficking a small quantity, and using cocaine over a period of time. He was sentenced to seven years in maximum security prison. Court in the Middle describes his early yearsgrowing up in a family of lawyers, running hard to build a criminal law practice; his successful years with a national practice, and defending high profile, sometimes notorious, clients. He also discusses his relationship with cocaine, addiction and deals, crime and punishment, and the shocking details of his time spent in a maximum security prison.
Dare I Call It Murder?: A Memoir of Violent Loss
Larry M. Edwards - 2013
I found myself thinking about your story -- wanting to read more. Your writing is so revealing and beneficial to others. The impact of your last few lines -- perfect.Kirkus Review:"A chilling memoir of a family tragedy and its painful aftermath. . . . This book is an act of witness, and the author’s motivation is palpable throughout: 'I have a right to know. Our family has a right to know. Society has a right to know.” . . . A powerful testament to a son’s unyielding determination to tell his parents’ story.'In his book, Larry Edwards unmasks the emotional trauma of violent loss as he ferrets out new facts to get at the truth of how and why his parents were killed.In 1977, Loren and Joanne Edwards left Puget Sound aboard their 53-foot sailboat Spellbound, destined for French Polynesia. Six months later they lay dead aboard their boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.Larry's younger brother became the prime suspect in the FBI's murder investigation. But federal prosecutors never indicted him, leaving the case unresolved and splitting the Edwards family into feuding factions.Three decades later, a dispute over how to respond to a true-crime book by Ann Rule--which contained an inaccurate account of the case -- ripped the tattered family even farther apart. In Dare I Call It Murder?, Larry Edwards sets the record straight, revealing previously undisclosed facts from the FBI investigation as he lays out the case never presented in court.Larry's memoir, however, goes beyond simply telling the untold story of his parents' deaths and refuting the errors in previously published material. His broader goal is to see the book generate greater awareness of and conversations about violent loss, its impact on the survivors and their families, and the troubling effects of post-traumatic stress (PTSD).Website: DareICallItMurder.com
The Prisoner: How One Woman's Jail Term Was The Making Of Her
Kerry Tucker - 2018
When her offence was discovered it was reported to be the biggest white-collar crime committed by a female in Victoria, and she was sentenced to seven years in a maximum-security prison, alongside the state's most notorious criminals. Being incarcerated with drug dealers and murderers, however, was not nearly as daunting as having to tell her two young daughters why she was leaving them. The shame was almost unbearable. As Kerry adjusted to life behind bars, she began to see her fellow inmates as more than simply 'murderers' and 'drug dealers' - they became real people with names and broken dreams. And as they opened up to her, she realised that many of these women had violent home lives and were not getting parole simply because they couldn't fill out the paperwork. Horrified, Kerry set about using her skills to represent them. She also began to study. Today, Kerry has a PhD, advocates for women prisoners, and has been reunited with her daughters. In her inspiring memoir, filled with fascinating stories of life behind bars and shot through with wry humour, she reveals how one woman's darkest hour can become a turning point in her life. And how, just perhaps, it can even be the making of her.
It Happened to Audrey: A Terrifying Journey From Loving Mom to Accused Baby Killer
Jill Wellington - 2012
An infant died in her care at the same time the unknown science of Shaken Baby Syndrome hit the media. Swept up in a media frenzy, Edmunds was accused of killing the child through SBS. She was stripped from her children and husband and sent to prison where she would fight for freedom 13 years before she was finally exonerated after updated science showed her innocence. Audrey was and is an all-American mother from the Heartland who shares her story of hope and redemption in the face of unrelenting odds. Built as the ideal reader's club book, It Happened to Audrey includes questions that challenge all readers to think of the possibilities in today's ever-changing world. Edmunds is ultimately released from prison in the middle of a blizzard and reunited with her now grown children.
The Kalinka Affair: A Father's Hunt for His Daughter's Killer
Joshua Hammer - 2012
Suspicions of murder began to surround her stepfather, a German doctor named Dieter Krombach, but Bamberski could only hope the truth would prevail. But when the authorities gave up their pursuit, he knew he had to act. So against the odds, Bamberski embarked on an obsessive quest to capture and punish his daughter’s killer. In this riveting true story by Joshua Hammer, a father travels to the limits of law in search of justice.
Healed - How Cancer gave me a new life
Manisha Koirala - 2018
From her treatment in the US and the wonderful care provided by the oncologists there to how she rebuilt her life once she returned home, the book takes us on an emotional roller-coaster ride through her many fears and struggles and shows how she eventually came out triumphant.Today, as she completes six years of being cancer-free, she shares her story-one marked by apprehensions, disappointments and uncertainties-and the lessons she learnt along the way. Through her journey, she unravels cancer for us and inspires us to not buckle under its fear, but emerge alive, kicking and victorious.
A Tale of Two Lives - The Susan Lefevre Fugitive Story
Marie S. Walsh - 2011
As a falsely accused drug lord, escaped convict, and hunted felon from the Michigan Department of Correction, incarceration was never far from her consciousness. Sent to prison at age 19 on a minor drug offense�a 10-to-20-year sentence after she�d been promised probation�Susan Marie LeFevre chose to escape the life she�d been dealt and begin a new one. She married, raised three children, volunteered for charity events and played tennis and bridge with her many friends and neighbors�all the while carrying the secret of her past. Not even her husband knew who she really was. The explosive story of her capture played out in the news, usually with the headline starting "Fugitive Mom..." as she became a voiceless pawn shuttling across country on a prison-bound bus back to the confines of Michigan�s notoriously cruel penitentiary system. In this riveting new autobiography, Marie Walsh aka Susan LeFevre�s story begins in the fractious, idealistic 70s, delves into the world of drugs and touches on church scandal, race relations and a corrupt judicial system. Readers will experience the headiness of that all-consuming first love, the humiliation of squatting naked in a jail cell, the friendships�and enmities�forged by necessity among prison women. And finally, readers will understand the price one pays in trying to escape the past and the lessons to be learned by confronting it. Her parallel worlds were forever intertwined as the country witnessed it played out in courtrooms, news media and before public officials who ultimately decided her fate. Two lives � one story.
Gangsters, Guns and Me
Jamie Foreman - 2012
The happiness of his family and school life was snatched from Jamie when his father was sentenced to ten years in prison for his involvement in the killing of Jack "The Hat" McVitie. The subsequent years saw Jamie without the father he adored and the whole family was put under enormous strain. At 14, Jamie decided that his passion was for acting and, having been encouraged by Barbara Windsor, he discovered yet another new environment at the Italia Conti Stage School. Jamie thrived in the acting world and was soon enjoying success on both stage and screen. By the time of his dad's release from prison, Jamie had carved a "straight" career for himself--but after years apart, there was plenty of lost time to make up for. Soon, he was dividing his time between acting and assisting with Freddie's "business." Whether on the streets or on the stage, there was never a dull moment; Jamie was living life at 100 miles an hour and loving it. Before long, though, life took a surprising turn when a drug deal his father was heavily involved in went tragically wrong and he was forced to go on the run to America with his dad, which marked the start of a whole new adventure.
The Toughest Prison of All: The true story of bank robbery, prison escapes, and the search for love on the outside
Floyd C. Forsberg - 2015
At 14, he was sent to the Luther Burbank School for Boys for possessing firearms and running away. There, Floyd found himself trapped by a system that sought to destroy his dignity rather than restore his character. From this point forward, Floyd would strive to become the most hardened, disciplined, professional bank robber ever. On one of the rare occasions he wasn't incarcerated, Floyd met Nancy, a golden-haired goddess, the love of his life. Given the choice between loving her and being the greatest bank robber in America, he chose Nancy without hesitation. But before he went straight, he just needed to pull off one last job ... Floyd Forsberg spent his time behind bars planning the biggest bank heist in history and longing for the simple love of his soul mate. When he robbed the First National Bank of Nevada in 197 4, he achieved his first goal. But with a million dollars of the bank's money in his hands and the FBI constantly on his tail, he would have to escape The Toughest Prison of All to achieve peace. “For years I’ve known Floyd Forsberg as a reliable source whose every news tip panned out. Now Forsberg has written the best personal indictment of America’s horrific prison system that I’ve read since Ted Conover’s 2000 classic, “Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing.” Forsberg’s plainspoken prose tells a soul-searching tale of survival and transformation that will touch readers from all walks of life. The angry young man determined to be the country’s best bank robber has emerged as the sage author of a life story that reads like a thriller and traces his daring escape from The Toughest Prison of All.” —Richard Read, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, The Oregonian/Oregonlive “After 35 years in law enforcement, I have worked with many professional cops and encountered many professional thieves. Floyd Forsberg was one of the best career thieves around and created thousands of headaches for my peers. The Toughest Prison Of All is a great read with a twist ending that doesn’t happen very often. The insider view of crime taught me things that I had never considered. I’m already looking forward to his next book.” —Tom Allman, Sheriff-Coroner of Mendocino County (California) and co-author of Out There In The Woods “As a recently retired police sergeant, having served nearly 29 years, I can relate to Frosty’s desire to escape prison. Transporting many prisoners to jail, I was always well aware when the gates allowing our vehicle to enter would slam shut, the steel bars to the doors clanging hard and loud as they closed, locking us in with the prisoners and the sign on one prison wall saying, this is not a country club. I, too, couldn’t wait to leave. Forsberg will take you from the edge of your couch to a small prison cell to a life on the run and keeping you guessing every step of the way.” —Angelo LaManna “When I started reading this book two things became clear: Floyd Forsberg is a very likable guy; and after hearing about his childhood, it was clear he didn’t stand a chance to have a normal or easy life. Throughout the entire book I found myself rooting for Floyd to succeed or just to get out of his own way. The part I had the most trouble with was the behavior of the FBI. I think some of us have a hard enough time walking a straight line without people that are supposed to enforce our laws and set the example for the rest of society behaving in questionable and sometimes utterly illegal ways.
Happy Land - A Lover's Revenge: The nightclub fire that shocked a nation
OJ Modjeska - 2020
You've Got This: And Other Things I Wish I Had Known
Louise Redknapp - 2021
Killer Kids: Parricide
Sylvia Perrini - 2014
The ancient Greeks initiated the name “parricide” for the murder of a parent. Thankfully the crime of parricide is a fairly rare occurrence, but no matter how rare, parricide remains one of the most profound of all taboos in all societies. It directly contravenes a universal cultural and religious principle that children must honor their parents. To murder ones parents is the most definitive act of rebellion against society's rules and order. Every human family is a unique and complex unit. It operates and malfunctions in its own distinctive way. As a result, families can create a rich assortment of murderous motives.Seriously abused children murder their abusive parent to put a stop to the abuse. Seriously antisocial children murder their parent in order to advance their own ambitions. In these cases, the parent is a hindrance in their desire to achieving what they crave. These individuals, for instance, might murder to continue to have a relationship with a person of whom the parents disapprove, may murder to have more freedom, or to become heir to money they believe is sooner or later going to be theirs. Seriously mentally ill kids murder the parent basically as a consequence of their mental illness. Commonly made diagnoses consist of severe depression and psychosis. This book has 10 horrific true crime stories of children killing their parent(s). All of the cases profiled in this book are tragedies.This is book # 8 in the Murder In The Family Series by Sylvia Perrini, and we invite you to read this one as well as the other true crime murder stories in this series and in her other True Crime Stories series.
As if it were yesterday: An old fat man remembers his youth as a Marine in Vietnam
Lee Suydam - 2017
I try to tell what it was like for me and my brother Marines without fanfare or bravado and give the reader a vivid description of my 13 months.
Kisses From Nimbus: From SAS to MI6 An Autobiography
P.J. 'Red' Riley - 2017
His is the story the establishment doesn’t want you to read.br>Captain P. J. “Red” Riley is an ex-SAS soldier who served for eighteen years as an MI6 agent. Riley escaped internment in Chile during the Falklands war during an audacious top-secret attempt to attack the Argentinian mainland. He was imprisoned in the darkness of the Sierra Leonean jungle, and withstood heavy fire in war-torn Beirut and Syria. In 2015, he was arrested for murder but all charges were later dropped. In this searing memoir, Riley reveals the brutal realities of his service, and the truth behind the newspaper headlines featuring some of the most significant events in recent British history. His account provides startling new evidence on the Iraq war, what Tony Blair really knew about Saddam Hussain’s weapons of mass destruction before the allied invasion, and questions the British government’s alleged involvement in the death of Princess Diana. Chaotic, darkly humorous and at times heart-wrenchingly sad, Kisses From Nimbus charts the harrowing real-life experiences of a soldier and spy in the name of Queen and country.
In Sickness and in Health: A Memoir by Joclyn and Jeremy Krevat
Joclyn Krevat - 2018
Just a few months after their wedding, and a few weeks after running a 10K, a rare autoimmune disease landed Joclyn in the hospital with a failing heart. Enduring four open heart surgeries, rounds of experimental chemotherapy, a punctured lung, a lost voice, a pacemaker, an unsympathetic nurse, bedpans, and legitimately gruesome hospital food, it seemed the bad news would never end. But with the help of a top-notch medical team, supportive and loving friends and family, courage, a will to live, and a desire to just go home, they learned the true value of love, hope and life. Joclyn, an occupational therapist, Jeremy, a public school administrator, live in Sacramento, California with their dog, Ramsay. Their experience received national attention and helped facilitate legislative reform surrounding “surprise medical bills,” out-of-network bills received when a patient has done everything he possibly can to remain in-network.