A Heartbreaking and a Painfully Honest Memoir...

books:


	• Forget You Had a Daughter Sandra Gregory, Michael Tierney VISION Paperbacks, 2003 - 280 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Read in a day...

I saw her story on National Geographic's "Locked Up Abroad" and did a google search the next day to learn more about her story. I found she had written a memoir and ordered the book. I read it within 24 hours - it was very interesting and as the others mention, feel it should be required reading by students before travelling abroad. I myself am naive in assuming the best in people and probably could have easily found myself in her shoes had I travelled that early in my life.

Scary, but Believable

I live in Bangkok, less than 10 km from the prison Sandra was held in. I enjoyed reading the book for several reasons. One, as a ex-pat resident of Thailand, I could relate to and even walk past many of the places she described. Second, I'm a sucker for real-life dramas--the gorier, the better. And third, from reading the book,it was a shocking realization that as an ex-pat, one cannot necessarily rely on one's embassy to "take care" of any legal entanglements while in the Kingdom of Thailand (ex-pats living here are generally very spoiled and well-taken-care of). I also felt sorry for Sandra, as there are more heinous crimes than the one she commited every day herethat go unnoticed, unpunished (ie, sex-slavery, child trafficking).
The prose is readable, enjoyable, but not beautiful nor well-crafted, However, anyone travelling to Thailand as a backpacker or as a tourist would be well-served to read this book. Many legal aspects of Thailand seem erratic or lackadasical compared to Western countries, but if you DO get caught doing wrong, the consequences are harsh indeed.

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A Story of Survival

This was a rather timely read given the current situation in South East Asia with Sharpelle Corby and the Bali 9. In this book, Gregory tells the story of how she set out from Britain to spend 8 weeks in Thailand, accompanying a friend of a friend she had no previous acquaintance with. Gregory loved Thailand so much that she decided to stay on, until she became seriously ill and distraught over the political situation at the time. Having no money to return to Britain and too stubborn to ask her family for financial support, she 'serendipitously' re-encounters her former travelling companion who offers her one thousand pounds to smuggle a small quantity of heroin for him. Desperately ill and under the impression her acquaintence has 'fixed' things at customs, she agrees. She is, of course, caught.

The story describes her time at Lard Yao, known worldwide as the 'Bangkok Hilton' and the shocking conditions she was forced to endure. Following her transfer to a British prison, Gregory continues her tale, drawing contrasts between the penal systems of the two countries, and finding Britain to be the worse of the two.

Of particular interest were Gregory's encounters with some very notorious offenders such as Rosemary West. She also speaks of the shadow of Myra Hindley in two of the prisons she was incarcerated in. I actually found the second part of the book, where Gregory was in British prisons to be more horrifying than her descriptions of Thai prisons.

Gregory's book is very readable, honest and pulls no punches. However, at the end, you realise that Gregory's book is not so much about her physical survival, but her emotional survival and the evolution of her soul.

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A Heartbreaking and a Painfully Honest Memoir...

Sandra Gregory takes us deep inside life in a Thailand women's prison and then into the Durham prison of England. Life was terrible for this woman who was arrested for drug trafficking a very small amount of heroin in her vagina. She truly did not deserve such a long and harrowing sentence. She is a hero in my opinion for having survived such an incredibly soul-destroying incarceration. God bless Sandy for writing such a critically-needed memoir. Her book should be on everybody's required reading list, especially high school and college-age kids. They could benefit from Sandy's horrible experience, and might be deterred from doing the same. Thank God she finally got released, but how terrible was her suffering in the mean time! A truly sad but unforgettable read.

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very honest memoir

Gregory's book details her life from meeting the guy who offered her money to smuggle drugs, to her life in Thai prisons, adapting to the harsh way of life and finally moving back home to a British prison. The development of her character from beginning to end is evident to all through her concise narrative about her guilt and shame, especially when she speaks of her family members. All in all, this is a haunting real-life story that shouldn't be missed by anyone, especially Caucasians travelling for long periods of time in Southeast Asia. The temptation may be great when funds are running low, but the horrors of prisons in the less-developed regions are not exaggerated.

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reviews: page 1, 2

Having lived a successful life in Bangkok that included friends, two teaching jobs, and her own apartment, Sandra Gregory recounts how her life took a terrible turn in 1993 and how she experienced a journey from prison to renewal. While recuperating from dysentery and dengue fever, Gregory ran out of money. With mounting medical bills to pay, she met a heroin addict who offered her $1,000 to smuggle his personal supply of heroin to Japan. It was just enough to pay her medical bills and buy a ticket home, but Gregory was arrested at Bangkok airport before she even boarded the plane. Detailing the four and a half years she spent in the notorious Lard Yao prison, dubbed the "Bangkok Hilton," Gregory describes scenes of horrific brutality and suffering before being transferred to a British jail to serve the rest of her 22-year sentence. She tells of her daily fight for survival, of many women who died with no medical care or loved ones around them, and of her acceptance of her guilt and ultimate redemption.

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