Laura was just eighteen years of age when she fled her family home on the Serbian Kosovo border at the height of the former Yugoslavian conflict. Her father felt she would be safer in Kosovo, free from the rape camps, massacres and ethnic cleansing that took place on their doorstep, the streets of the capital patrolled by US peacekeeping forces. Reluctantly she made the long journey through the mountains and eventually arrived in Pristina. Neither Laura or her father were aware she had entered a city one US delegate described, "as one vast crime scene."
She had no idea what terrors lay ahead, as she crossed the path of ‘The Chief’, a self professed freedom fighter in the Kosovan Liberation Army. On the face of it The Chief’ claimed to be fighting a noble cause. Behind closed doors he was the mastermind of a huge operation dealing in organ harvesting, people trafficking and prostitution and his evil gang raped tortured and killed at will.
Laura had stumbled through the gates of hell. Follow her quite unbelievable true story of kidnap, murder, brutality and abuse set against the backdrop of one of Europe’s most recent and bloody conflicts and how she encountered some of the most evil men on the planet.
Available in both eBook and paperback format now.
What people have said:
*****
15 years ago i moved to London and was introduced to a beautiful lady with a wide smile and a gentle soul. I am still in touch with her today. In every photo i see of her see is smiling. That lady was Laura. I had no idea that any of this had happened to her so when i saw that she had written a book about her horrendous childhood i had to buy it.
I read it cover to cover in two days and knew i had to write something. I have never written a book or film review before but this book was different. For me it wasn't just about the heart breaking content of 'The Devil Couldn't Break Me', but the sheer amount of times i had to say "i KNOW this girl. How is this even possible???" I have tried to piece my review together in my mind over 20 times before finally trying to write something.
All i can say is that i was very naive to that world, to those horrors of war and abuse. I work in the film industry and i suppose we become immune to aggression and violence. This isn't a script though, and i am still trying to get my head around it all. I can't even comprehend how Laura kept her strength through all of that and i can't begin to imagine how hard it must have been to rehash all that pain to tell her story. Truly heart breaking. No words to describe it all. I'm so sorry you went through all of that Laura, but i am so happy you have found love with your husband and your family and thank you for all of your hard work raising awareness. You deserve every success with this and i won't be surprised if this is made into a film.
Lots of love always xx
*****
I have known Laura (by the name of Lurata) for over 10 years or indeed I thought I knew her. I met her when I moved to London and she became the girlfriend of a colleague. She came across as a total 'ball-breaker', a mediterranean woman (like me) who would not take no for an answer, who was strong, assertive, happy, kind. I knew very little of the ordeal she went through in her native Ex-Yugoslavia, a conflict I heard little about despite still living in Italy at the time and the country being a very close neighbour to us. You know the Media, they let you know only what they want you to.
When I heard she was writing a book on her life I was surprised, curious but I never in a million years would have expected this book to come out.
I finished Laura's book, this morning on the train. Admittedly it was not the best place to finish it as I struggled to hold back the tears and the urge to scream 'how can this happen!!'. It took me on a journey I didn't want to take for most of the time. It was harrowing and emotional to such an extent that I had to leave it for days at a time sometimes as I just simply could not take it anymore. I thought I knew her and I so so didn't. I knew nothing of the sheer horror she went through, of the strength that resided inside her, of the love she is made of.
The past she hid to all of us is a very very tough one but one many many women in the world go through, some even worse, some don't survive. She has and had the courage to share her story with us. A great achievement in itself, the fact that she went on to carve a beautiful life for herself with strength and determination...well that just goes to show what stuff she's made of.
A touching and emotional read but a necessary one.