Bring Back Our Girls: The Astonishing Survival and Rescue of Nigeria's Missing Schoolgirls

Description

Bounty hunters, the manpower of western militaries and special Swiss agents were all deployed but they either met road block after road block or flew home empty-handed. Twitter flitted to the next crisis, leaving the Chibok girls to take survival into their own hands. As the days in captivity dragged into years, they became witnesses, and often victims, of unspeakable brutality that they chronicled in secret diaries. Many of the girls were Christians who refused to take the one easier path offered them - converting to Islam. A heart-stopping thriller, a riveting narrative history and an incisive cultural analysis, Bring Back Our Girls is the definitive account of a kidnapping and digital campaign that changed our understanding of warfare, terrorism and online activism. With a plot that unfolds on four continents, from the remote forests of northern Nigeria to the White House; from clandestine meetings in Khartoum safe houses to century-old luxury hotels on picturesque lakes in the Swiss Alps, it is cautionary tale plumbing the promise and peril of an era whose politics are fuelled by the power of hashtag advocacy - and at the centre of which stand some exceptionally brave and resourceful girls. 'Everyone should read the testimonies of the Chibok girls who survived the capture. We need to help with efforts to liberate all of them and become more responsible for women and girls' protection in conflicts' - Malala Yousafazai

Joe Parkinson and Drew Hinshaw are both Wall Street Journal Pulitzer-prize finalists who have covered Nigeria for more than a decade. Their 2017 narrative on the Chibok kidnapping is cited as the definitive account of what happened in Nigeria before and after Twitter moved on, based on unparalleled access to the surviving Chibok girls themselves as well as the players who eventually won their freedom.

'Illuminating . . . remarkable and humanizing.' - Financial Times 'A brilliant investigation.' - Sunday Times 'What the influencers who endorsed #BringBackOurGirls might do, though, is encourage their followers to read this finely written, absorbing book. Not only does it chart how the celebrity Twittersphere impacted one of the poorest corners of the planet, it does the far knottier reporting job of revealing what went on backstage, be it in the Nigerian and US governments, or the minds of Boko Haram commanders.' - Telegraph 'It is difficult to imagine a more thorough and significant piece of reportage, for our troubled world, than this new book.' - The Scotsman 'Told with factual rigour, crisp political insight and deep compassion...brilliant book' BOOK OF THE WEEK - Daily Mail 'Everyone should read the testimonies of the Chibok girls who survived the capture. We need to help with efforts to liberate all of them and become more responsible for women and girls' protection in conflicts' - Malala Yousafzai 'Phew. It is fascinating and gripping.' - Archbishop Desmond Tutu 'It's a really fascinating read, gripping as it's certainly been described, and the humanity of the girls that's brought to bear is really interesting, really, really interesting . . . It is really a remarkable story. It is an amazing story.' - Christiane Amanpour 'This intimate and riveting account demonstrates the power of sustained international pressure in the name of human rights. Most importantly, it serves as a testament to the strength of the Chibok girls who resisted their captors and bravely asserted their humanity in the face of violent subjugation.' - Nadia Murad, recipient of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize 'Bring Back Our Girls is a journalistic masterclass: a detailed and compelling story of the unsung heroes who won the release of Nigeria's schoolgirls after the social media circus had moved on.' - Tom Wright, New York Times bestselling coauthor of Billion Dollar Whale 'With this book, Parkinson and Hinshaw remind us why tenacious investigative journalism-and not reporting triggered by Twitteris so essential to democracy. It's a most readable recounting of the immense passion and years of painstaking work that it took to return these kidnapped young girls to their mothers.' - Seymour Hersh 'Dramatic and detailed . . . This is a brilliant work of investigative journalism that supplies all the missing puzzle pieces, uncovering for the first time intimate and crucial details about the girls' time in Sambisa forest, and the brave men and women in Abuja and around the world who sacrificed so much to bring them back to their parents.' - Helon Habila