Marianne Stephens

Guilty Survivor - Memoirs of Tamerla Kendall Marianne Stephens

The memoirs of Tamerla Kendall, a woman who lived in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War of 1992-1995, has it all. Emotionally packed, it tells how she survived the chaos and horror of those years. . . and what happened after. Hers is a story of courage, fear, ingenuity, and survival. Difficult choices she made then still disturb her peace of mind and life today. During the war, she made a few trips out of Sarajevo, only to return to keep the family restaurant business operating. One secretive trip was made to remove her daughter from the dangers of fighting, but this created a heartbreaking rift in their relationship. For her second trip, Tamerla masqueraded as a United Nations Protection Forces soldier. Her hopes for a return to normalcy at war's end diminished as corruption and religious zealots took control. She married an American, and this marked her as an outcast. When her life was threatened at gunpoint, she faced a critical decision concerning her family's safety in her beloved country.