3096 Days

Note:  This is a gently read book in mostly good condition.  It has some yellowing and a few bits of foxing here and there but not enough to be too worrying. This is a good reading copy that conveys a powerful message.

Description:

3,096 Days is the remarkable and shocking true account of Natascha Kampusch's kidnap in 1998, where she relives her traumatic experiences. On March 2, 1998, ten-year-old Natascha was snatched off the street by a stranger and bundled into a white van. Hours later, she found herself lying on a cold cellar floor, wrapped in a blanket. When she emerged from captivity in 2006, having endured one of the longest abductions in recent history, her childhood was gone.

In 3,096 Days, Natascha tells her story for the first time: her difficult childhood, the fateful morning of her abduction, her long imprisonment in a five-square-metre dungeon, and the physical and mental abuse she suffered from her abductor, Wolfgang Priklopil—who committed suicide by throwing himself under a train on the day she escaped.

3,096 Days is ultimately a story about the triumph of the human spirit. It describes how, in a situation of almost unbearable hopelessness, she learned to manipulate her captor and, against inconceivable odds, managed to escape unbroken.

Praise for 3,096 Days:

"A brilliantly insightful dissection of her years in captivity." — Jon Ronson, Guardian

"An excellent book." — Kathryn Hughes, Mail on Sunday

"Unflinching and remarkably devoid of self-pity... Remarkable—not just for Kampusch's account of her ordeal but as a testament to her indomitable spirit." — Daisy Goodwin, Sunday Times

Natascha Kampusch was born on February 17, 1988, in Vienna. At the age of ten, she became the victim of one of the longest abductions in recent history. She gained her freedom in 2006, and on the day she escaped, her abductor Wolfgang Priklopil committed suicide. Since then, Natascha has been trying to live a normal life. In spring 2010, aged 22, she graduated from university.