Product Description

2004 ECPA Gold Medallion winner!

Soon after September 11, the news media stepped up its coverage of the plight of Martin and Gracia Burnham, the missionary couple captured and held hostage in the Philippine jungle by terrorists with ties to Osama Bin Laden. After a year of captivity, and a violent rescue that resulted in Martin's death, the world watched Gracia Burnham return home in June 2002 with a bullet wound in the leg and amazing composure.

In this riveting personal account, Burnham tells the real story behind the news about their harrowing ordeal, about how it affected their relationship with each other and with God, about the terrorists who held them, about the actions of the U.S. and Philippine governments, and about how they were affected by the prayers of thousands of Christians throughout the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #208911 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this remarkably honest and unaffected memoir, Burnham tells the story of her captivity at the hands of Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group in the Philippines. For just over a year, she and her husband Martin, a missionary pilot, lived with their captors and a variety of other hostages in the Philippine jungle. In a botched rescue attempt, the Philippine army shot and killed Martin Burnham and Ediborah Yap, a nurse who was the other remaining hostage. Gracia Burnham was also shot, but rescued and treated for a leg wound. Burnham hauntingly depicts the alchemical reaction of deep Christian faith, Stockholm Syndrome and the unremitting terror of hostage life. The odd intimacy among the hostages and captors comes across in surprisingly frank conversations. At one point, Martin boldly refers to all the bad things the captors have done to the hostages, only to have one of them look at him quizzically and claim he has never done any harm to the hostages. The captors, in fact, do unspeakable things, such as beheading hostages or taking them as unwilling "wives." Impressively, Burnham makes no attempt to dramatize these events for shock value, nor does she use this book as an occasion for Christian triumphalism. Instead, she chronicles both her high and low moments as a Christian during that year, and shows tremendous respect and love for members of other faiths with whom she lived. While some of the book is written for a Christian audience, a much wider audience will appreciate Burnham's brave, artless account of these horrific events.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"[A] remarkably honest and unaffected memoir."
-- Publishers Weekly (Publisher's Weekly )

From the Inside Flap
How would you react if you were suddenly snatched away from the life you knew and the people you loved?

Imagine the terror of being roused out of bed one morning at gunpoint. Of being kidnapped and held captive for more than a year, living on the run without warm clothes, enough food, or adequate shelter. Of being chained to a tree each night, sleeping on the ground despite painful body sores and debilitating intestinal viruses. Of never knowing if you’d have food to eat or water to drink, if you’d be shot at yet again by your would-be rescuers, or if your captors would make good on their threat to behead you--as they had several of your fellow hostages.

Martin and Gracia Burnham lived this nightmare as captives of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group, having been kidnapped while celebrating their wedding anniversary at a resort in the Philippines. During a yearlong ordeal as hostages on the run in the jungle, the missionary pilot and his wife struggled to live the faith they had come to the Philippines to proclaim. In the process, they discovered the true condition of their own hearts--and of the heart of God.

Customer Reviews

Inspiring
The moment I started reading this book I coudlnt let it go. An inspiration how God let bad things happen for a good reason.

Gracie Burnham's Kidnap by Abu Sayyaf
The author accurately recounts how one is treated during a kidnap by the Abu Sayyaf terrorist organization in the Philippines. The book definitely has a spiritual slant but it does provide an in depth understanding of how one's religion and spiritual beliefs are most often what enables one to survive a most tragic experience.

Wonderful testimony of Gracia and her husband Martin!
I love, love, love this book! What a powerful testimony of faith in God during a terrible situation. This book has been such an inspiration to me of what real trust in God looks like, even in the face of death.
I would highly recommend this book!