I picked this book up on a whim after seeing it on the shelf in Waterstone's and I'm so glad I did. It's a harrowing story, but beautifully told, and very well written. The description and narrative is lean and the narrator doesn't tell us too much, but just enough to imagine the ordeal perfectly. This book is apparently based on real-life accounts and memoirs from people who actually experienced what Lina and her family went through. Sometimes I wonder why we bother making up horror stories to scare ourselves with, when there are plenty of real-life horror stories - like this and others like them - scattered throughout history.