New Book: Even Silence Has an End

Literanista September 21, 2010

Ingrid Betancourt tells the story of her captivity in the Colombian jungle,
sharing powerful teachings of resilience, resistance, and faith.

Born in Bogotá, raised in France, Ingrid Betancourt at the age of
thirty-two gave up a life of comfort and safety to return to Colombia to become
a political leader in a country that was being slowly destroyed by terrorism,
violence, fear, and a pervasive sense of hopelessness. In 2002, while
campaigning as a candidate in the Colombian presidential elections, she was
abducted by the FARC. Nothing could have prepared her for what came next. She
would spend the next six and a half years in the depths of the jungle as a
prisoner of the FARC. Even Silence Has an End is her deeply personal and
moving account of that time. Chained day and night for much of her captivity,
she never stopped dreaming of escape and, in fact, succeeded in getting away
several times, always to be recaptured. In her most successful effort she and a
fellow captive survived a week away, but were caught when her companion became
desperately ill; she learned later that they had been mere miles from freedom.

The facts of her story are astounding, but it is Betancourt’s
indomitable spirit that drives this very special account, bringing life, nuance,
and profundity to the narrative. Attending as intimately to the landscape of her
mind as she does to the events of her capture and captivity, Even Silence Has
an End is a meditation on the very stuff of life-fear and freedom, hope and
what inspires it. Betancourt tracks her metamorphosis, sharing how in the
routines she established for herself-listening to her mother and two children
broadcast to her over the radio, daily prayer-she was able to do the
unthinkable: to move through the pain of the moment and find a place of
serenity.

Freed in 2008 by the Colombian army, today Betancourt is
determined to draw attention to the plight of hostages and victims of terrorism
throughout the world and it is that passion that motivates Even Silence Has
an End. The lessons she offers here-in courage, resilience, and humanity-are
gifts to treasure.