Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland; Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus

This was a sad horrifying story about the three girls abducted by Ariel Castro in Cleveland Ohio, but written by just two of the kidnapped. Astonishingly all three were kidnapped during the day and no one witnessed anything! Michelle Knight was kidnapped shortly after losing custody of her young son. Ariel lured her into his car and then into his house with the promise of a puppy for her son. She went with him because she knew him and his daughter. she was then tied with chains, locked in a room, beaten, and raped for the next dozen years. Her family didn't report her as missing because they assumed she left town upset about losing her son. Over the course of her abduction she has 5 miscarriages, each induced by Ariel's systematic violence so she won't give birth. A year later Amanda Berry was kidnapped in the same way. She got off work at Burger King early and when she is walking home is stopped by the father of a girl she knows from school. He asks if she needs a ride and wants to see his daughter, she says sure, but then he takes her home and ties her up with chains in the basement. Her captivity is similar to Michelle's, only she gets pregnant and Ariel lets her keep the baby, who he actually treats like a daughter. Not quite a year after Amanda's abduction Ariel sees Gina and his daughter talking. Once his daughter walks away he asks Gina if she'd like a ride and of course she accepts because he is one of her best friend's dad and her family knows him. Again she ends up in the basement and he doesn't believe she is only 14 and a virgin until he rapes her, then gloats that he is her first and she will always remember him. As time goes on the girls either figure out what sets him off and try to avoid it or he decides he wants to view these tortured women as family and life becomes more bearable for Gina and Amanda after Amanda gives birth. It doesn't seem like life ever gets easier for Michelle as he still continuously beats and rapes her. Eventually Ariel seems to get bored with the girls and is bothered by his daughter living a life locked in a room with her mother He starts talking about letting them go, but he doesn't want to go to prison. One day he accidently leaves Amanda's door unlocked and she is unchained. Her daughter keeps asking where daddy went with the car and Amanda acts through panic that he is tricking them. She goes to the locked front door and screams, but the neighbors are hesitant to help her and walk away. One man goes up to the door and kicks it, but then tells her to kick her way out. She is able to create an opening large enough to crawl out and grab her daughter, then uses a neighbor's phone and calls 911. The entire time she is terrified he will come back and kill them all, but the police some and get the other 2 girls and they are rescued.