Angels of a Lower Flight

Simon & Schuster
Nonfiction/Memoir
Release date: October, 2007
326 pages

Note: This review has been revised to removed all references to the author's name, due to a large number of hits I've recently received - in search of photos from her sordid past.

I received Angels of a Lower Flight from Simon & Schuster, began reading it two days later, and stayed up till the wee hours of the morning to finish. It's a strange and powerful story of the twisted road that led the author from a childhood of abuse to modeling for Pl*yb*y magazine and, finally, life as a happily married woman who spends her time helping ill and deformed children in Haiti - children who would ordinarily be left to die.

I was absolutely awe-struck by the horror the author has lived through but even more amazed at how she's managed to turn a horrific childhood into the building of a caring organization in a crime- and poverty-ridden nation. Her story of both her own life and the history of the Mercy and Sharing Foundation is jarring in many ways and not for the faint of heart, but definitely an incredible story that needs to be told. Angels of a Lower Flight is shocking, heartrending and inspiring.

The story is, I should add, not particularly well-written. The author quit school in the 10th grade to model, as much to get out of her childhood home as to make money. Yet, it's a compelling read and I hope that her book brings some attention to the plight of the impoverished and unwanted children in Haiti, as well as the corrupt government and the sale of orphans for adoption. One of the most fascinating aspects of this story is that the author's childhood was so traumatic that she's seemingly fearless, enabling her to walk around freely in areas where even the citizens of Haiti are afraid to tread because of gang warfare.

I suppose that I just armchair traveled to Haiti. Scary as it was, I'm going to count it.