Escape from Saddam (28 page)

FOOTNOTES

^*1
The strain of everything we’d been through led to Rachel and me separating, although she is still a close and valued friend and I will never forget what she did for me and my family. As for my father, I wish I could say that we have reconciled; but at the time of writing this, that has not happened, and I have not spoken to him for several years.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

There are so many people to thank. Barbara Levy, my fabulous literary agent, whose enthusiasm for my story has been unwavering from day one; Doug Young, Deborah Adams, Zoe Hood, Rebecca Jones, Emma Musgrave, Madeline Toy, and all the brilliant team at Transworld, for doing what they do so well; everyone at Crown, especially Julian Pavia and Annsley Rosner, for their hard work on the U.S. edition; and Adam Parfitt, without whose help this book would not have been written. Thanks also to Joanne Adamson, Graham Allen, Tim Bevan, David Bond, Pippa Cross, Nigel Edwards, Eric Fellner, Laurie Fransman, Lex Genn, Nik Goldman, Ana Gonzalez, Paul Greengrass, Kirk Hassig, John Hadity, Theresa Hickey, Tracey Holmes, Dan Hubbard, Nibil Issa, Jan Tun, Christian Johnson, Tim Kent, Richard Lever, Lloyd Levin, Paul Lucas, Terry Newman, Peter Nicholson, Yacine Serir, Raj Sharma, Sean Smith, and Theresa Villers.

To Rachel, for being there. Also to her father.

To all the unknown beacons of light who helped me along my treacherous way.

And finally, to Saad—who was a father to me when I had no father. Thank you for everything.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

L
EWIS
A
LSAMARI
was born in Iraq and spent a few years of his childhood in the United Kingdom. He is now an actor best known for his role in Paul Greengrass’s acclaimed film
United 93,
in which he plays an Al Qaeda hijacker. He now lives in London.

Copyright © 2007 by Lewis Alsamari

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

www.crownpublishing.com

Crown is a trademark and the Crown colophon is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.

Originally published in slightly different form in Great Britain as
Out of Iraq
by Bantam Press, an imprint of Transworld Publishers, a division of The Random House Group Ltd., London, in 2007. This edition published by arrangement with Bantam Press, an imprint of Transworld Publishers, a division of The Random House Group Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Alsamari, Lewis.

Escape from Saddam: the incredible true story of one man’s journey to freedom / Lewis Alsamari.—1st ed.

1. Alsamari, Lewis. 2. Iraqis—Biography. 3. Refugees—Iraq—Biography. I. Title.

CT1919.I78A47 2008

956.7044092—dc22

[B]                                                      2007032660

eISBN: 978-0-307-40969-0

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