FOOTFALLS IN MEMORY: Reflections from Solitude

by Terry Waite ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1997

Waite, who was taken hostage in Beirut in 1987 while negotiating the release of other Western hostages, spent 1,760 days in captivity. For the first year, Waite, a great reader, was allowed no books. Gradually his captors relented, and Footfalls in Memory offers an anthology of brief excerpts drawn from books that provided solace for Waite during his confinement (ranging from Anna Sewell's Black Beauty to the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius and Herman Hesse's Magister Ludi). These are accompanied by his reflections on the ways in which books have influenced his life and the manner in which they helped him to survive his dreadful circumstances. Some of the books he includes were actually given to him during his captivity; others, he notes, he drew pleasure from by recollecting them during his imprisonment. In other hands such a work might seem a curious indulgence, but Waite's frankness and faith make this slender book surprisingly moving.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1997

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 208

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1997

Categories: NONFICTION