Hostage - My Own Story - Paperback

by Amanda Maresch (Author), Christine Maresch (Author)

This is an amazing story. The most amazing thing about it is that it actually happened. What begins as a moment of innocent passion leads sixteen-year-old Christine Maresch into a nightmare - a nightmare that is to last five years and change her life dramatically and forever.

After meeting a young German, Walter Maresch, at a roadside carnival, Christine is forced to marry him as he hides in Australia as an illegal immigrant. With devastating honesty, Christine describes their life on the run, a traumatic visit to Germany, involvement with neo-Nazi groups, bank robberies, and a hair-raising escape through Greece and Turkey that has more than a faint echo of Midnight Express.

Returning to Australia, Christine and daughter Mandy are held prisoner on a yacht off the Queensland coast. When they are finally rescued, Walter is sentenced to a long prison term and Christine finds herself caught up in a blaze of undreamed-of publicity.

In April 2023, Christine passed away in a similarly tragic circumstance. Her daughter, Amanda Maresch, has digitized and updated this edition in her honour.