Women Survival Stories

She was 17 years old on a Christmas Eve flight 40 years ago to join her father for Christmas when the unimaginable happened. The Lockheed L-188A Electra, on the way from Lima to Pucallpa, flew directly into a thunderstorm. A strike of lightning left the plane incinerated and Juliane Diller (Koepcke) still strapped to her plane seat falling through the night air two miles above the Earth. Her survival is unexplainable and considered a modern-day miracle. Her mother was among the 91 dead and Juliane the sole survivor.

Heal complex trauma and emotional flashbacks to break the cycle of people-pleasing and reclaim your true self-worth. This intimate, empathetic collection of lived experiences offers a validating space for women navigating the heavy aftermath of emotional abuse and chronic neglect. If you are...

"She could not hear the world. She learned to read it." For readers of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Librarian of Auschwitz, and The Nightingale. Berlin, October 1942. Seventeen-year-old Leah Adler has been deaf since the day she was born. In a quiet flat above her father's tailor shop, she has learned to listen with her hands, her cheekbones, the bones behind her eyes — to read a world that has never spoken to her. Then a brick comes through the front window. Then comes the yellow star. Then comes the knock at the door at half past five in the morning. When the cattle car opens at the ...

Survival. Justice. Hope. She was only thirteen when her nightmare began. Ripped from the arms of her murdered mother, Jayme Closs was taken by a man who had fantasized for years about kidnapping a young girl—any girl—and making her his own. For eighty-eight days, Jayme lived in fear and isolation, hidden beneath a bed, trapped in a remote cabin in the woods. But she never gave up hope. When the moment came, she ran—and changed everything. 88 Days: The Abduction of Jayme Closs is a powerful true crime story of unimaginable horror, unbreakable courage, and the pursuit of justice. ...

A Thousand Miles to Freedom is a gripping, deeply human true story of one young Afghan girl’s impossible journey across mountains, borders, sea and war zones in pursuit of the freedom she was told she could never have. She was born into a world shaped by conflict, tradition, and the constant threat of violence, she grew up determined to carve a path beyond the limits placed on Afghan girls. From surviving abusive cultural norms to becoming a nurse through sheer resilience, her life is marked by extraordinary courage. But when she is forced into an intolerable arranged marriage, she makes ...

A captivating historical tale of witch trials, forbidden love, and survival in colonial America. Late 17th century. Men are determined to keep women barred from medicine, yet for ages, the remarkable Galene mothers and daughters have healed where no man could. Naida is destined to follow her foremothers’ virtuous path, but when her grandmother is executed for reviving a stillborn, she flees to Charles Town, a raw and untamed colony where healers don’t burn, unless… But when love awakens her all-too-human heart, Naida commits the unthinkable. Will she honor her pledge and make the ...

In September 1921, four young men and Ada Blackjack, a diminutive 25-year-old Eskimo woman, ventured deep into the Arctic in a secret attempt to colonize desolate Wrangel Island for Great Britain. Two years later, Ada Blackjack emerged as the sole survivor of this ambitious polar expedition. This young, unskilled woman - who had headed to the Arctic in search of money and a husband - conquered the seemingly unconquerable north and survived all alone after her male companions had perished. 

A mountain girl in the early 1900’s copes with a marriage arranged by her dad. Her story is titled from an old saying “I own my land, heaven-high and hell-deep.” “Your pa gave his consent for us to marry,” he said the words as though it was a simple matter. It wasn’t a romantic proposal of love and devotion. It wasn’t a proposal at all. I opened my mouth but nothing came out. I tried again. “I don’t know your name,” I managed to say as I felt my chest constrict. There was a pain in me that started at my toes and went to the roots of my hair. Dad had come up with a ...

My Mother's War is a gripping memoir about one woman's unflinching courage and cunning in the face of horrific evil. This compelling true story follows author and Holocaust survivor Michael Fryd's larger-than-life mother who outsmarted the Nazis and saved her family. Michael Fryd was only three years old when Nazi Germany invaded Poland, triggering World War II and one of humanity’s darkest chapters. Forced to leave their home and everything they knew, Fryd's mother went to near impossible lengths to keep her family safe from Hitler’s clutches, including crafting clever lies, dealing in...

She was sold into sexual slavery at age seven. By thirty-five, she commanded 80,000 pirates and negotiated with empires as an equal. In 1801, Shi Yang was property—a flower boat prostitute in Canton with no future and no hope. By 1810, she was Zheng Yi Sao, the Pirate Queen, commander of the largest criminal fleet in history. This is the true story of how one woman transformed herself from victim to victor, building an empire on the South China Sea that neither the Chinese government nor European powers could destroy. Starting with nothing but intelligence and ruthless pragmatism, Shi ...

Five journeys west. Five women with secrets. Five chances at love. This collection of historical western romance stories follows brave women who leave everything behind in search of safety, freedom, and a future they can claim as their own. From mail-order brides and fugitives to widows rebuilding their lives, each story explores the courage it takes to begin again on the frontier. Across rugged ranches, small frontier towns, and snow-covered settlements, these heroines face danger, deception, and the pasts that refuse to stay buried. Along the way, they meet men shaped by hardship, honour,...

This collection contains Books 1–5 of the Still Alive series. The world ended fast. The dead rose. And for Jaimee, finding love was already hard enough before the apocalypse. Alone in a shattered world, Jaimee fights to survive against the undead—and the living. Trust is rare, hope even rarer. But when she finds a group of survivors, something shifts. For the first time in a long while, she’s not alone. Among them is Diane—strong, guarded, and impossible to ignore. As bonds form and trust takes root, Jaimee dares to believe she might not have to face the end of the world alone. But ...

I'd spent thirty-one years playing it safe, and I was suffocating in my own cowardice. Never taking risks. Never doing anything that might go wrong. Just existing in a comfortable, boring life I was desperate to escape. Elysian Meadows terrified me. Lactation induction, pregnancy, and a transformation I couldn't control. Everything I'd spent my life avoiding. That's exactly why I signed the contract. Under Mr. Smith’s steady guidance, I'm discovering that courage isn't the absence of fear. It's doing things despite being afraid. Each challenge I face, each change I accept, proves I'm ...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the acclaimed author of Seabiscuit comes the incredible true story of survival and salvation that is the basis for two major motion pictures: Unbroken and Unbroken: Path to Redemption. “Extraordinarily moving . . . a powerfully drawn survival epic...

Some bridges are built for crossing. Others are built for burning. She grew up in a house where love was a transaction, silence was a weapon, and survival meant learning how to disappear. Every smile had conditions. Every hug had an expiration date. And every mistake was proof she’d never be enough. But even in the quietest corners, a spark survived. Burning the Bridge I Was Born On is the unflinching story of a daughter who refused to inherit the wounds that raised her. Told with the pace of a novel and the punch of truth, it takes you from the sharp edges of a childhood spent under ...

When Women Held the Fire She saved a child from deadly danger. They exiled her for it. Lera is a healer in a Stone Age valley where a dying glacier has poisoned the rivers. When she defies the village elders to expose what’s killing their children, they turn on her — it’s easier to blame one woman than face the vast changes reshaping their world. The man she loves doesn't follow. So Lera sacrifices everything — the hearth she built, the belonging she earned, the only life she’s ever known — and walks out into the cold rather than stay silent as children die. She is only the ...

A 2026 Audie Awards finalist for Best Nonfiction Narrator! Moving and powerful, this is a vivid portrait of the women who came together to form an orchestra in order to survive the horrors of Auschwitz. New York Times bestselling author of Les Parisiennes and That Woman: A Life of Wallis Simpson...

Myra says, "This is a book about how to overcome life's worst tragedies and your own dumb-ass decisions." It was the scandal that rocked the world of music and destroyed a career. In 1958, rock-and-roll sensation Jerry Lee Lewis stepped off a plane in London to be greeted by a frenzy of fans. His entourage followed, including a teenaged girl. When a reporter asked how she knew the performer, she innocently gave an honest answer. “I’m his wife.” Within hours, headlines erupted with the shocking news that Jerry Lee had secretly married his thirteen-year-old cousin, Myra. The scandal ...

A True Story of Resilience Survival and Unbroken Spirit A Civilian Dutch Woman in Europe During World War II Treasures of Sadness is the story of Corrie's unbroken spirit. If you love historical fiction, don't miss reading this real life memoir and page-turner: Treasures of Sadness Treasures of Sadness is a real life account of a woman’s journey that began during World War II. Corrie grew up in an affluent neighborhood in Amersfoort, Holland in the 1940’s. From there she fell in love with a German soldier, rubbed elbows with royalty in Vienna, Austria and ended up in a coal mining town ...

The American West was never just a man’s world. In The Forgotten Frontier, bestselling author Richard Fleischman uncovers the extraordinary lives of women who braved the harsh realities of the 19th-century American frontier. Through vivid, deeply researched storytelling, this powerful volume gives voice to the women who crossed mountains, deserts, and boundaries—both physical and social. From midwives who delivered babies on dirt floors to widows who defended their homes with rifles in hand, these women lived at the intersection of grit, grief, resilience, and resolve. Some followed ...