Have you heard of Stockholm Syndrome?  It’s when a victim is kidnapped or abused and falls in “love” with their kidnapper/abuser. It could also be called a “trauma bond”: the abuser will make it seem like the victim is in danger and save them superficially. The victim will form a sense of loyalty to their abuser and may even refuse help when it is offered from police or family.

Stockholm Syndrome is a big deal. My favorite book, Stolen by Lucy Christopher, is about Stockholm Syndrome. It’s a complex story with lots of different fan interpretations. Some fans argue that the victim in the book is actually in love with her kidnapper, but that will be up to you to decide. (Warning: spoilers ahead.)

The book is written in second person point of view; the main character, Gemma, is writing a letter to her kidnapper, who is portrayed as the reader. The entire book, she calls her kidnapper “you,” creating the feeling that we kidnapped her.

The kidnapper’s name is Tyler, but she calls him (us) Ty. The first line of the book is “You saw me before I saw you.” Gemma talks about how we kidnapped her from the airport and took her to our house in the desert. At first Gemma kept fighting and tried to do anything to go home, but we (Ty) still treated her like a beloved long-term partner, even though we had kidnapped her.

Gemma recounts her exploration of the land around the cabin and remembers mostly finding miles and miles of sand. During these long days, she also found a shack. Though Gemma doesn’t learn this until later in the story, it was our (Ty’s) painting shack, in which we painted the walls, as well as our own body. This was our sense of entertainment. We made the paint ourselves, as well. Gemma couldn’t see due to the darkness, so she knocked over all of our paint. Yet we still didn’t get mad at her and treated her with respect.

After a while she started to accept that she wasn’t going home. We told her that we had been watching her for years and had been planning this for a while. We let her go on walks by herself, and she even brought home a pet camel that we let her keep.

But one day, Gemma stole our car and tried to find help. We searched for her and found her in the sand almost dead. We nursed her back to health, which caused her to finally fall “in love” with us. We taught her how to ride the camel and how to hunt, and she started acting like she belonged here all along.

But one night as Gemma was climbing trees, a poisonous snake bit her. We didn’t have any antidote, so we gave in and took her to the hospital. We turned ourselves in at the hospital so she could get help.

In the end, we went to court; she defended us, but we still received a long sentence. The last few words of the book tell us that Gemma is back in the desert, where she had lived for the months we had held her. The book is her writing a letter to us, from the desert to prison.

I would recommend this book to anyone, no matter what genre you’re into. I cried multiple times while reading it, but I also smiled and laughed and even blushed. Reading this book was an amazing decision that I hope you make as well!