What a fascinating life story. From behind the iron curtain. Family poverty but full of love. Sent to America to be adopted by horrendous parents. A young parent but desperate for financial security.
Climbing the career ladder at the un in New York.
Finding love but estranged from her daughter.
A truly inspirational life. I felt as if I had made a friend reading Christine's life story.

“I was born a survivor-and not only a survivor-but one with steel determination.”
Quote from the book.

This quote perfectly describes Christine Sadry and what she shares about her life in 13 Years Lost. From her early life in Poland, to getting adopted and moving to America, and her life after, you will smile, cry, feel angry at certain parts, and feel a sense of peace in Christine’s story.

I graciously received an advance e-copy from the publisher on Netgalley to review. All opinions are my own.

This was a wonderful book. Not many people understand how lost a person can be to be dropped into a foreign country alone. This author's perspective is an enlightening one. A must-read.

This book "13 lost yeras" is a deeply moving and inspiring read. From the very beginning, the author’s story captivated me, bringing tears to my eyes as I learned about the challenges she faced in life. I was profoundly touched by her strength and resilience. She is truly an incredible woman, and her story is both empowering and uplifting.

The second half of the book shifts to a more positive and motivating tone as the author takes readers along on her work travels, particularly across African countries. Through her passionate work and the meaningful connections she builds, it's clear that her career was not just a job but a true calling. Her ambition, dedication, and focus on making a difference shine through, leaving me inspired by her determination and hard work.

As you read, you’ll find yourself wanting to reach for Google, eager to learn more about the places she visits and the historical events she touches upon. This is a powerful book that will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading.

13 Years Lost was a very interesting book to read, especially to learn about the author's career working in the UN. It was fascinating to me how really dangerous those missions/assignments can be, all the work involved.
Not to leave out the author's upbringing and her life once she came to the USA. It was so heartbreaking and infuriating at times for me, to learn about all the abuse she went through, from all the people, the one ones that were supposed to protect her and love her, her adoptive parents. I can only imagine how hard all those years were for her.
Although I understand this is the author's story, but the only thing I felt was I would have loved to know more about the author's sister's lives in the USA and how is her daughter doing nowadays. Otherwise, this was a very fascinating memoir to read.

Thank you to O’Leary Publishing and Netgalley, for the free ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

Wendy

I loved the story, heart breaking but with a great successful ending. We should all learn from this great story and great person who lived it. An extremely powerful story of a young girl who suffered in all means and lost years of her life struggling but she fought and struggled her way to build her life and improve her future. A child who had a very tough childhood, poverty, isolation, taken away from its own loving land and family to the unknown. Living in a new country with a new family, who was unfair and rude to her, still she managed to lead herself to the best she could, making a family and adjusting to all circumstances. Indeed Christine proved to be a very strong person. I loved the story, could not leave the book which I finished in two days. The events of the story and the narrative catches way in a nice way that you want to know the upcoming events. I must say that I teared up few times reading the lines and what Christine went through but was happy that she found happiness toward the second part of her life. It was a pleasure to read the bood and to accompany the narrator on her physical and emotional journey, I recommend this book to everyone to learn how to fight, stand up and how to always look forward.

What a life Christine Sadry has shared with her readers. From frightened, abandoned child to international status working for the United Nations. What an extremely accomplished life she has led. It is the kind of book that I could not put down because it is based on reality and I respect a woman who faced life challenges and will not accept defeat.

I loved the book; once you start reading it's really hard to put down.

It's an amazing story about a woman who went through horrors as a child and young woman. She was surrounded by obstacles and her entire story was about wanting to be loved and love eluding her, and having to depend on herself solely to become the brave, strong, confident woman that she is at the end of the story. [I don't want to give anything away]

To me, the most exciting chapters were about her early story: where she started, her family relationships, where she came from, where she traveled to and her search for love and stability. My heart went out to the little girl who always had to work hard for acceptance and love as neither came easy and she was always searching for love but first she had to find herself. Her young adult childhood was appalling and very sad and many times when reading, I was moved to tears. I recognized a soul sister because I had a hard life, but after reading her life, my life was a picnic and I wish I was as brave and smart as Christine was to not give up, believe in myself, especially when there were so many unbelievers with so many obstacles. She didn't have to just fight the world; she had to fight for everything. It's just so amazing that she turned into this Marvel type of heroine. She went to places we could only imagine and we wouldn't put ourselves in such risk and danger. The part about her relationship with her daughter Dana was quite moving and it left me with many questions. It's so hard not to give examples because there were so many of them.

I liked all the history and it helped to see the world through Christine's eyes. There was so many scary stories about war and possible death and even potential body safety issues. But it was mixed beautifully with the times she was with her colleagues and when they'd have R&R what a wonderful team they were.

Most important to me was the love story with her wonderful man Beh. Christine not only told her story, she told his story and you could see why everyone would love and respect her husband and why she would ultimately make him her soul mate. I wish there was more stories about the relationship with Beh while she was in all these dangerous territories.

I started reading and I had to stop reading for a few days because her early childhood chapters were intense. Then I started reading about her mind blowing adventures. I even pictured her as a Peace Keeper Barbie doll. I re-read the chapters about her daughter Dana and it was heartbreaking to save the world and save your child. I kept on thinking 'what would I do?' and I know I couldn't have made the same decisions as Christine - it's strength to make the hard decisions, even if sometimes you wondered if it was the right one.

It was a lovely story that had me sitting on the edge of my seat and I would definitely read another book by Cristine Sadry.