Absolutely gut wrenching account of Badeeahs experience with ISIS when she was 18. This was an absolutely devastating story. The atrocities faced by the victims of ISIS that were shared here made my stomach churn. The human spirit is incredible in how it is able to continue to push for survival even in the most horrific situations. I loved how Badeeah draws on her childhood and her memories in captivity in order to continue to find the strength to push on.

I had a really hard time getting into this one. It just wasn’t for me. I’m not sure why I just couldnt get into it.

Badeeah Hassan Ahmed was 16 years old and living with her family in their small village in Northern Iraq when it was invaded by ISIS soldiers. The village was inhabited by Ezidi people, a persecuted minority people in Iraq. The soldiers separated families. Badeeah was able to stay with her toddler nephew by claiming he was her son. The two of them were taken with a number of women and kept as prisoners. Badeeah and her nephew end up in Syria where she is sold to a high ranking ISIS soldier who is from America. They are kept as slaves. Badeeah is regularly assaulted and raped. She eventually escapes and has found the courage to share her story.

This was a harrowing read in part because I knew what was coming. However, I believe it is very important to hear about how women are often mistreated in wartimes. What happened to Badeeah and her village IS a war crime. This is a story of a young woman finding inner strength in a time of extreme hardship. Her individual story can help bring awareness to the plight of women especially those in persecuted and culture-minority groups.

Audiobook provided by NetGalley and Bespeak Audio Editions in exchange for an honest review.

This is a tough book to read but it's an important message to be heard. I am grateful that Badeeah was brave enough to tell her story and to allow the world to learn a little more about the Yazidi people and culture. I am still in shock over Badeeah's quick thinking to claim her nephew Eivan as her own in order to save him, most adults wouldn't have thought to do the same.

Baraka Rahmani does a great job with the audiobook and I think Badeeah's message is even more powerful when being able to listen to her story rather than just reading words on a page.

More of the world needs to know about the 2014 Yazidi genocide - as with the other religious and cultural genocides happening throughout the world.

A Cave in the Clouds recounts a young girl's story of struggle, survival, and triumph after having been ripped from her family and kidnapped by ISIS. This memoir is unique in its emphasis on Badeeah's strength and strong spirit instead of laying into the grittier details of the atrocities she goes through and because of that, I think it would lend itself really well to becoming an educational tool for middle school or early high school readers.

Badeeah's story is incredible and it was a privilege to be able to listen to it.

I knew by the blurb of this book that it would be a hard, heavy read, and while it definitely was, it was also told in a beautiful manner in which you are instantly enveloped in the Yazidi peoples lives. I had never heard of the Yazidi people prior to this book, as ashamed as I am to admit that, and I found the way that Badeeah shared so much of their faith, ancestral stories and culture with the reader truly developed this book and gave the me a much larger picture around her single survival story. What an amazingly strong woman, and a story of utter courage and perseverance. Must read for everyone.

I loved the narrator on this audiobook as well. She made it seem as though she herself was the author, as she easily and authentically flowed through the book. I even listened at 1.5x for a while and she was still very pleasant to listen to.

A Cave in the Clouds tells of a teenage girl's experiences as her village was captured by ISIS. Her traditions, culture, and stories were woven into this horrifying story, creating a unique perspective of the ISIS terrorist regime in a very personal way. Much of Badeeh's stories and experiences are compressed and handled delicately to aim towards a more Young Adult audience. At times, the story felt stitled or under-explained due to the compressed nature of the story. At other moments, there was great care to add details to help mostly Western readers understand a different cultural language and perspective. Overall, I struggled to properly rate this story. Badeeh's story is certainly an important one, and is her own story which should not have any score or numeric attached to it. At certain times however, I wondered if McClelland dramaticized or purposely excluded details for the sake of making a faster and more engaging story.

If you know little about how ISIS affected certain populations of people in the Middle East, or have not heard of the Yazidi people, I would highly recommend giving this book a listen. I only wish there were an addition with more details for adult audiences, and more of a direction of what we as a society can do next.

*will be my suggestion for Goodreads 2021 memoir* Read this book!

What a brave and remarkable woman! Thank you for sharing your story.

Badeeah Hassan Ahmed was abducted and sold into slavery and marriage, forced into another religion and all the while she protected and saved her nephew. Badeeah and another woman she met in the slave compound were able to find a way to escape.

I had never realized that the Yazidi people existed; it was so interesting to discover their beliefs and lifestyle before it was ripped to shreds by ISIS.

At some point in listening I had hoped that there was a GoFundMe site or a way to donate funds to the Yazidi people. I was just so taken by her story; my heart goes out to her.

I was a little worried that it might be too graphic; many of the horrors and brutality that must have occurred were omitted ... although reading between the lines, you know the brutality was there.

Nazad helped to save Badeeah; Badeeah asked Nazad if he was safe doing this work. He looked away and Badeeah asked why. Should we stay or leave? He and some relatives choose to stay and help the Yazidi refugees leave. " The evil in this world can never be destroyed by the hatred that created. Every person is a sister or brother. When we really believe that, we are free." God bless you Nazad.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher (Bespeak Audio Editions) and the authors, Badeeah Hassan Ahmed and Susan Elizabeth McClelland for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. Baraka Rahmani did a fantastic job narrating.

If I could take back every harrowing thing that happened to Badeeah, so these words never existed, I would.

Evil in its worst form changed the life of so many Yadizi people over the past 7 years. In this book, I learned of the courage and strength of Badeeah as she saved the life of her nephew, Eivan, through untold horrors.

This is a MUST READ (or listen!). It’s easy to form a bubble around our lives when there is so much suffering and war in many parts of the world. For a 3 year old boy to treasure his ONE small taxi car when my children are swimming in their toys.

Thanks to @Negalley and Be Speak Audio for this audiobook! The narrator, Baraka Rhamani, did a fantastic job, which makes all the difference in an audiobook.