A House in the Sky

After a tense drive, Lindhout and Nigel are taken to a secluded, makeshift compound. Upon arrival, Lindhout quickly erases potentially incriminating photos from her camera under the guise of using the bathroom. The environment inside the compound is tense and foreboding, with the captors strictly controlling their every move.

Lindhout and Nigel seek solace in simple activities like playing tic-tac-toe and talking. Lindhout expresses their shared despair, saying, “[W]e had each other” (144). However, the reality of their situation is brought starkly back to them when Adam, one of the kidnappers, officially declares their kidnapping as a ransom situation.

The day ends with them still in captivity, uncertain of what the next day will bring but aware that their ordeal might not conclude quickly. They are given food and allowed outside briefly, which provides a momentary relief from the claustrophobic rooms where they spend hours on end. The chapter closes with their plight becoming public knowledge through a radio broadcast. 

Lindhout reflects on the frequency of kidnappings worldwide, noting they often occur for financial rather than political or personal reasons. She explains how her family became aware of her kidnapping: A radio producer in Vancouver, familiar with Lindhout, initiated contact with her family after noticing a report of her disappearance in Somalia. This set off a chain of events, leading to the involvement of the Canadian government and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), who advised her family on how to handle the situation, including how to interact with the media to keep the kidnapping low-profile to avoid escalating ransom demands.

The chapter conveys Lindhout’s fluctuating emotions, her interactions with her captors, and her attempts to humanize herself to them, particularly through religious discussions and presenting herself as a potential convert to Islam to gain some semblance of safety or reprieve. Her captors, including Ahmed and Ali, display a mixture of cruelty and bizarre kindness, which illustrates the psychological complexities and power dynamics of the hostage situation. The captors move Lindhout and Nigel to another location, extending the deadline and hinting at ongoing negotiations for their release.

Lindhout describes being moved to a new holding location, termed the “Electric House,” which despite its similar condition to the previous place, offers electric lights and a bucket-flush toilet. The captors provide Lindhout and Nigel with new clothes and personal care items. Communication with Lindhout’s family also starts during this period, facilitated by the captors.

Lindhout describes the dynamics within the house, highlighting her primary fear of rape as the sole woman there. She observes that “the house hummed with what I can only describe as male energy, a buzzy mix of repression and young strength” (159).

Moving on, Lindhout learns that many of the young men, including Jamal and Abdullah, were drafted into roles that fit larger strategic aims of the jihadist network they belong to, which finances itself through activities like kidnapping. Jamal, unlike Abdullah, dreams of a future beyond the conflict, aspiring to marry and pursue education, contrasting with Abdullah’s resigned fate as a martyr.

Lindhout narrates her interaction with one of her captors, Ali, who assumes her spiritual idleness means she and Nigel are destined for hell. Lindhout uses this conversation to cautiously explore the possibility of learning about Islam, asking Ali if he could find an English-language Quran for her and Nigel.

Once they receive the Quran, Lindhout identifies key verses that discuss the treatment of believers and captives, noting that converting to Islam might offer them some protection or leniency, as believers are not supposed to kill fellow believers and are instructed to treat captives kindly. Nigel, however, is resistant and concerned about the dangers of pretending to adopt their captors’ religion.

They eventually decide to convert to Islam in a minimal ceremony led by Ali, who has them recite the Shahadah—the Islamic declaration of faith. Following their conversion, they are renamed: Nigel becomes “Mohammed,” later changed to “Noah,” and Lindhout is called “Marium,” and eventually “Amina.”

Lindhout and Nigel, now identified as Muslims, face the challenge of adopting Islamic practices, particularly the ritual prayers that punctuate each day. Jamal and Abdullah take on the roles of religious instructors for Nigel and Lindhout, respectively, guiding them through the complexities of prayer and the recitation of the Quran.

Lindhout’s annotated Quran provides insights into the afterlife’s allure: “One thing about Islam is that paradise always beckons. Life is oriented toward the afterlife” (177). This notion of paradise, Lindhout observes, underpins much of the captors’ actions and justifications, as they seek to secure their place in the afterlife through their deeds, including the act of holding captives.

During a visit, the financier of their kidnapping, referred to as Donald Trump, brings supplies and reacts calmly when Lindhout reveals she may be pregnant—a result of a brief encounter before her capture. The chapter concludes with Donald Trump taking a pregnancy test sample from Lindhout. That evening, facing so many uncertainties, Lindhout prays, reflecting the uncertainty of her future, unsure even of what to hope for.

Lindhout describes her and Nigel’s adaptation to Islamic rituals like prayer and the wudu, the ritual washing. Donald Trump then informs Lindhout that her pregnancy test is negative, relieving her of the additional stress of a potential pregnancy in captivity.

Lindhout also recounts a coerced filming session orchestrated by their captors, intended to pressure their governments into paying a ransom. Ahmed, Romeo, Donald Trump, and Adam direct Lindhout and Nigel to make positive statements about Islam and plead for ransom payment, with the frightening backdrop of masked gunmen. Lindhout is acutely aware of how her family might perceive her during this broadcast. The footage is eventually aired on Al Jazeera and other media outlets, but only a brief segment is shown—and without audio—reducing her spoken message to mere silent gestures.

The chapter ends on a tense note when their captors abruptly decide to separate them and move Nigel to a different room without explanation, leaving Lindhout to face her fears and uncertainties alone.

This chapter captures a distressing phase of Lindhout’s captivity, marked by her forced separation from Nigel, which plunges her into deep isolation. She describes the intense loneliness and fear that envelop her, exacerbated by a lack of interaction with anyone, including Nigel. To maintain some form of connection, Lindhout devises a system of passing notes to Nigel by slipping paper messages during her allowed movements.

Her despair deepens when she faces direct threats and physical assault from her captors, Abdullah and Mohammed, who blame her for the stagnation in ransom negotiations. This culminates in a chilling encounter where her captors accuse her of being the problem and threaten her with death.

The accusation that Lindhout is the reason for their predicament suggests a narrative possibly concocted by the group’s leader, Ahmed, and disseminated by Captain Skids. They blame Lindhout for everything: “[F]or everything you don’t have, for everything you haven’t done, you can blame the girl. It is she who told her mother not to pay” (204).