Monday, July 18, 2011

Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff

It's bad enough to be a plane crash victim, but when you are in unexplored territory meeting natives that haven't seen white men or women before and may be cannibals it's even scarier!


Harper sent me an ARC of this book for review (thank you).  It was published in May, so you will be able to find a copy in your local bookstore now.  The subtitle of this book is:  The Epic True Story of a Plane Crash into the Stone Age.


They were going on a recreational flight to lift morale when their pilot made a deadly mistake.  With uncharted valleys and lots of fog in New Guinea and it was easy to get  disoriented.


After the crash and the resulting fire, only three people survived.  Two were badly injured, the third had minor injuries.  They had no food or water and no one knew where they crashed.  However, they didn't give up.


The amazing thing about this story is that it got so little attention in the rest of world.  It took a long time for them to get supplies dropped to them and then it took a lot of effort to retrieve them.  They had to take their chances with the natives.  This is a story of survival, and it's riveting.


The author built this story based on a diary, witnesses, and one survivor's account.  His account of the tragedy and triumph of the two men and one woman and the soldiers who rescued them is well written and keeps your attention.  You learn a little more about those who fought in World War II.  And you admire them...


If you'd like my copy of this ARC, please leave a comment here on my blog and email me at info at bookfaerie.com with your name AND address and tell me why you'd like to read it.  I'll pick a winner in about a week.


Happy reading!  

1 comment:

SusanB said...

This sounds like a great book and a deviation from my normal reading genre. Thanks for the review.

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