Tebbutt, in her late 50s, was holidaying with husband David when she woke in the middle of the night to a commotion within their beach bungalow. She last saw David as he wrestled with pirates while she was dragged outside and whisked away by boat to a hiding place.
She spent six months as a hostage in Somalia while her kidnappers and their superiors negotiated with her 25-year-old son Ollie for a ransom.
Her story chronicles the physical, mental and emotional struggle she underwent.
She resolved to get through each day by constructing and sticking to a routine. Confined to a hot, squalid room, she paced the floor every hour on the hour to exhaust herself enough for sleep each night. Hence the book's title, A Long Walk Home. She benefited from her professional experience as a social worker in a psychiatric hospital in Britain, and used mind-control techniques on herself to stay sane.
The writing of this book was obviously cathartic for Tebbutt, but at times the story plods along perhaps more methodically than necessary. Overall, it is an interesting insight into an unusual, but frighteningly real, situation.
Readers will naturally be inclined to ponder what they would do in the same circumstances, and Tebbutt's mind-over-matter approach could help others dealing with difficulties.
Rosie Manins is an ODT Dunedin reporter.
