In 2008, A Canadian journalist and Australian photographer are kidnapped by bandits in Mogadishu, leading to an ordeal that many people wouldn’t survive. This is a harrowing memoir of a kidnapping and confinement, but it’s also a striking account of a person both doomed and blessed by an insatiable case of Travelitis. Some of Lindhout’s most memorable moments occur pre-kidnapping, as she traverses the world, collecting countries like fridge magnets. It takes a certain type of personality to wander alone in tribal areas and failed states (especially for a woman). Did she really have to go to Somalia in the first place? Totally. There’s an ennobling strength of character that sometimes leads to trouble, but that also takes on and conquers the darkest types of adversity. This is an absorbing read from start to finish.