Stolen

by Lucy Christopher

Book Overview

A stunning debut novel with an intriguing literary hook: written in part as a letter from a victim to her abductor. Sensitive, sharp, captivating

Gemma, 16, is on layover at Bangkok Airport, en route with her parents to a vacation in Vietnam. She steps away for just a second, to get a cup of coffee. Ty--rugged, tan, too old, oddly familiar--pays for Gemma's drink. And drugs it. They talk. Their hands touch. And before Gemma knows what's happening,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0545170931
• ISBN13: 9780545170932
• Release Date: May 2010
• Publisher: Chicken House
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 14 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 9 to 12

Customer Reviews

Loved This Book

I absolutely loved this book!! It was captivating and so easy to read. I don't rave about books very often but this book was truly so interesting.

Literally the best

Love this book!

Excellent

I could not put this book down. I found it to be excellently written. Highly recommend.

Good read

I loved how descriptive it was. However it was difficult for me because the entire book the male character is addressed just as you.

Stolen was my favourite book in high school

I’ve always thought Stolen is an underrated book. Out of all captivity, Stockholm syndrome stories I’ve read, this is the most innocent of all and I like that about it.

Captivating

Disgusting, yet so interesting.

One of the best books I've read so far this year

As originally posted on my blog Ticket to Anywhere I bought this book after listening to a fragment on [...] the short snippet that Pam read had me intrigued and so I immediately rushed out and picked up a copy for myself. I started to read it the day after it arrived on a trip my friend and I took to the beach - which just added to the ambiance of the read. Unfortunately I had to put it down soon after to read some review books but thoughts of this story stayed with me. When I was finally able to pick it up again I was kept up late reading. I was so engrossed....no that's not the right word....I was addicted to the story. Stolen by Lucy Christopher is like no other book that I've read its a book that trumps everything that I've read so far this year. And as I've read some pretty amazing reads that is saying a lot. This book is unique in so many ways. First there are no real chapters to speak of....just short breaks here and there in the narrative. The narrative itself is also fairly unique in that it is a letter....a very long letter written by Gemma - who is the victim of Ty. Ty....words are so hard to describe him. He is the abductor, the villian, the tortured soul who thinks he is saving Gemma from the evils of the world. He is a person that you think you should hate and despise but find that you can't. Ty defies all that it means to be a villian because while he has done something bad he isn't a bad person. Then there is the setting - the outback of Australia - which because more then just a setting and turns into a character all on its own. This is a novel that I had no expectations of before walking into it and now that I have finished it I don't have the words to say just how truly amazing it was. Gemma's voice is unique and real and touches the very soul inside you. As a reader you turn the pages wondering just where it will all end and what choice Gemma will make. You are torn between wanting her to escape and return to the life she lead before and wanting her to stay and make a life with Ty. These conflicting emotions become a struggle - both with the reader and with Gemma - and there are no easy answers. There is only this book that is filled with such prose and detail that you can almost touch the desert sands. (Of course it probably doesn't hurt that I read the bulk of this sitting on my balcony on a very hot summer day.) This is a book that I will become a champion for and Lucy Christopher is an author that I will be eagerly waiting to see what she comes up with next. Although I think that Stolen will be incredibly hard to surpass. And seriously folks, if you only pick up one book this year, then it should be this one. Its just that good. As originally posted on my blog Ticket to Anywhere

An impressive debut

Gemma is just an ordinary English teen, waiting for her flight in the Bangkok airport with her parents while on vacation. When she steps away from them for a moment to buy a coffee, she meets Ty. He's charming and handsome, and he buys and drugs her drink before whisking her away. When she comes to, Gemma finds herself in small house in the harsh Australian desert, alone with Ty. It's then that she discovers that he has been watching her for years, and stole her away so that they can live together away from anyone else. He expects her to love him. Gemma is devastated, but as days and weeks slip away, along with any hope of escape or rescue, and Gemma comes to know and understand Ty, the lines between enemy and friend become less tangible. Stolen is an intense and complex novel that explores the gray areas between two extremes, forcing you to think. The novel is written in the form of a letter from Gemma to Ty, recalling her experiences, which is an intimate technique that really puts the reader in Gemma's shoes and reveals all of her thoughts and convoluted feelings as she wrestles with curiosity and fear, but also portrays Ty in an interesting light. Along with Gemma, readers come to realize how damaged Ty is psychologically, but his caring and even noble sides are also revealed, which will invoke nearly as much sympathy and concern for him as the despise and disgust ignited when he stole Gemma away. The setting of Stolen is described with breathtaking beauty and desolation, and its characteristics and the many things that Gemma experiences while in the desert--catching the camel, for instance--all serve as a fascinating extended metaphor for Gemma's time spent with Ty. Christopher's depiction of the desert is vivid, and will certainly haunt you. Christopher does build quite a bit of suspense throughout Stolen, which will have readers wondering how the letter's end will find Gemma, and what her emotional state will be when she finally signs her name. She is an incredibly strong and capable heroine, and by the end she has grown impressively as a person, and she grapples with the fact that once you have truly understood someone and their motivations, it is difficult to condemn them. Stolen is a remarkable and stirring novel that blurs the lines between right and wrong, love and hate, and freedom and captivity--it is a truly impressive debut.

Surprisingly Tender Story

Stolen is an engrossing, well written story about a surprisingly tender relationship between captor and captive. Gemma is a sixteen year old girl who is "stolen" by Ty, a young man who has an unsuspecting past with Gemma. Ty's obsession with Gemma is clear from the beginning, but without the hostile or destructive tendencies of the typical stalker. Over time Ty shows Gemma the allure of the rugged Australian outback, as well as his own fragile, wild beauty. Their relationships blooms into something lovely and unexpected. The word "stolen" proves to be a especially fitting since Gemma is stolen rather than kidnapped. Much like a priceless diamond, Ty sees Gemma as a precious possession to be cared for and cherished rather than forced or threatened. Although somewhat disturbing, there is something endearing and flattering about the kind of total devotion Ty shows Gemma. And despite being a captive, Gemma is not immune to this selfless dedication. My biggest criticism was the ending. It was about what I expected, but I was still not completely satisfied. I would have liked a little more closure. However, it was well worth the read.

captivating from the first page

This book reaches out and grabs you from the first opening line: You saw me before I saw you... Amazing story of Gemma and Ty a boy/man captivated with her. Ty has been following and watching Gemma for years now and she did not know it. He meets up with her in the airport in Hong Kong where she has gone to a vender to get coffee. He buys her cup of Joe and starts to talk to her. Gemma is drugged and Ty sweeps her off out of the airport and to a long journey to the Sandy desert of Australia where he has a remote house. Gemma at first, goes ballsitic, but starts to find Ty's company pleasant. She counts down the days she is with him. Ty has a vaste knowledge of animals and plants from his days of livng with the bush people of Australia. Ty is a orphan, and slowly he opens up to Gemma and tells her of his tragic past and haunting mindset every day. Gemma wants to return to society and civilization but also starts to love the country and the wildness of the desert. One morning, Gemma follows Ty on one of his treks and she is bitten by a deadly viper. Ty must deceide what to do, take he bavck to civilization or try to cure her out in the wilderness.?? What will his obsession lead him to.

Stolen - A Book to Steal Your Heart

"It happened like this. I was stolen from an airport. Taken from everything I knew,everything I was used to. Taken to sand and heat, dirt and danger. And he expected me to love him. This is my story. A letter from nowhere." Stolen, by Lucy Christopher, is a truly incredible novel. Set in the Great Sandy Desert, in the harshly beautiful Australian outback, it is essentially the record of a kidnapping victim, but in its entirety, it explores so much more. Sixteen year old Gemma is buying coffee at the Bangkok airport after fighting with her parents when she meets him. The boy with the beautiful, pale blue eyes. His name is Ty; he is handsome, and foreign and strangely familiar. As Gemma will eventually discover, she has known him for a lot longer than she thinks. What follows is the challenging and highly emotional story of a young woman who is stolen from all that she knows. Taken to the deserts of outback Australia, Gemma is forced to deal with the horror of her own abduction and the strangeness of the world she now finds herself a part of. But as she is to discover, all is not as it first appears. There is beauty and life to be found within the harsh landscape of endless sand, and a strange fragility and kindness concealed within her tortured captor. A tale survival, of life, of discovering beauty in the most unexpected places, and of the connections between man and the earth - Stolen is an extremely challenging and moving novel. Elements of Ty's character remind me of Emily Bronte's tortured creation, Heathcliff; both hold very different perspectives of the world, people and love, that are mis-understood by society - they see beauty where others don't and are not to be judged by the same laws that govern us. Like Suzanne Collins' 'The Hunger Games', or Mary E. Pearson's 'The Adoration of Jenna Fox', Stolen leaves you thinking about controversial issues in a way that you never did before. A story that explores many kinds of fear and many forms of love, this is a truly beautiful and chilling novel of awakening and forgiveness - a story of a man, and a land, that you will never forget.