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Logline: American teenage cheerleader locked up abroad awaiting trial for spying will face a firing squad if convicted.
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While awaiting her trial, Colleen Lee Knight finds comfort and refuge in her faith in God and in her certainty of the love of her family and friends back in America. She tries to face this difficult time in her life with as much courage as she can, and her memories of reading Anne Frank's diary and Samantha Smith's book about her journey to the Soviet Union help her cope with the unknown future facing her in the Realm.
Will the USA's first female leader, American President Ginger Watker, find a way to save this innocent girl's life if the Grand Council of the Realm decides to sentence the young American teen to be brought from her prison cell to the death chamber to stand before their firing squad? And, how long can young Collie survive in her filthy and freezing ancient prison cell with just a dress and a thin blanket for warmth? An expert American nutritionist tells President Watker that the small portion of low quality food given to Collie once a day as her meal isn't enough to keep her strong and healthy. His expert opinion is that Collie's suffering terribly from the cold, serious malnutrition, and is in danger of very slowly starving to death in her prison cell or dying from an illness that her malnourished body is no longer strong enough to fight off. Will Collie sicken and die from the cold and living on the edge of starvation before she breaks down from the repetitive tirades and verbal abuse she must endure over and over again, or will the bitter cold, abuse, and near starvation cause her to abandon her dreams of being free, lose her will to live, and cease her struggles to stay alive? Knowing how much she's loved by friends and family, and her strong faith in God protects Collie far beyond the point at which her captors believe she'll suffer a nervous breakdown, as she prays in her prison cell and tries to keep her strength up physically, mentally, and spiritually while those who wish her well and those who love her do all they can to help her....
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"Collie's Captivity in The Monarchy of The Kingdom's Realm" is the first book in the "Collie in The Realm" series of books for teenagers and young adults. Due to the intensity of the plot and mature themes appropriate for teenage and young adult readers, parents are strongly cautioned to preview this book before allowing access to preteens.
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Imprisoned in a foreign land, a helpless and vulnerable young Anerican awaits her trial's end and the verdict that will determine her fate. Some persecuting Amanda Knox want to martyr this girl from America...and they are determined to do this for a number of different reasons: In a very real way, Amanda Knox is being sold into slavery by men and women who each do this for their own reasons, and their actions increase the odds of her being forced to endure the misery, slavery, and horror of a thirty year prison sentence resulting from the wrongful conviction they help to bring about for this poor innocent girl. Some of them persecute Amanda for money or in the hopes that her conviction will further their careers and elevate them in their profession. Others seek to have her convicted and imprisoned out of spite and jealousy because she's a beautiful young woman who's been an honor roll student and they wish to tear her down to their own level. Cheerleaders know all about this kind of attitude --- that because they are beautiful young women of accomplishment, they have enemies among other women who are jealous of them and among men who want to date them, but who are totally inappropriate men for them to date and become angry and resentful when turned down for dates and want to punish them for their rejection. And then, some hate Amanda because she's an American and they hate Americans for reasons of their own. They want to punish Amanda because she loves the land of her birth, and she's proud to be an American. Each of those who contributes in the ongoing efforts to convict Amanda and Raffael for a crime they didn't commit has his or her own reasons for doing so --- for some it's for financial gain, for others jealousy, and still others hope to increase their power and station in life by bringing Amanda and Raffael down. Then, there are those who cannot imagine decent young students who participate in casual youthful experimentation with some of the more mild controlled substances and are open in expressing their sexuality in their deep feelings for each other, and they see nothing wrong with condemning these students to serve decades of hard time in a maximum security prison for what, in their own children, they'd dismiss as youthful indescretion and experimentation -- and those who persecute these students understand that this is an easy way to sell the idea to the public in a conservative society such as in Italy that these students should be in prison, and if you wanted to convict an innocent young foreigner for reasons of your own, then this is the best path to take.... Some twisted individuals want to cause Amanda to face the prospect of spending decades in prison for the pure sadistic pleasure they get out of participating in the torture and martyrdom of an innocent young woman, and they take great malicious joy and satisfaction in witnessing Amanda's pain and tears as well as the despair of her loved ones. Amanda Knox is in terrible danger of being imprisoned for thirty years for a crime she didn't commit --- please stand by her and become her friend and join her comrades and family in helping Amanda to get safely back home again: Free Amanda Knox and Raffael Sollicito can be found at: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10975028253 Facebook: Free Amanda Knox can be found at: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/234623/51688487?m=2c16bad3
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Plot Summary: An American teenage girl locked up and on trial abroad faces a sentence of execution for spying if convicted.
Framed by America's enemies for a crime she didn't commit, fifteen-year-old cheerleader Colleen Lee "Collie" Knight is on trial for her life in a foreign land. If she's found guilty, then exactly nine months after the reading of her official sentence, the Captain of the Monarchy of the Kingdom's Realm military firing squad will offer the shivering young American teenage girl a blindfold after she is brought before those assembled as witnesses to her execution, and many of her friends and family members gathered to comfort Collie during her final hours on earth will watch as she's lashed to a wooden post and stands before them tearfully trembling as she prays softly to herself while awaiting her execution.
Will Collie be spared from sitting in her cramped prison cell waiting in fearful anticipation of the day she will kneel and receive the last rites of her Roman Catholic faith just before standing and having to decide if she will accept or reject the offer of the blindfold before she must face the rifle barrels of the firing squad being pointed straight towards her heart and then hear the command given to fire? Can the efforts of her friends, comrades, family, and American President Virginia Watker save Collie if she's found guilty by the Grand Council of The Realm and condemned to die before her sixteenth birthday?
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This book is dedicated in love and gratitude to:
Anne Frank and Samantha Smith
The courage and grace with which you lived your lives will be forever in our hearts.
The lessons you taught will guide us forever & ever and always & always to the end of time....
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Author's Notes: When my first novel, "Collie's Captivity...." was published in 2004, I wondered if I'd be able to recognize Colleen Lee "Collie" Knight if I ever were to see or hear of her in real life. And, in fact, an innocent young American woman on trial in Italy in 2009 is virtually identical to Collie in personality, values, and also in the danger she faces of being convicted in spite of her innocence of the crime of which she's accused. I believe my comrade Amanda is innocent of the charges against her, and with the help of her family, friends, and comrades will have her innocence recognized by the Italian court at the conclusion of her trial as she is granted her freedom. Those willing to convict Amanda Knox and sentence her to the terror and horrors of a thirty year prison sentence on the basis of fuzzy & flimsy circumstantial evidence as well as flawed & contaminated scientific testing tend to consider accused individuals guilty until proven innocent, and some of them are easily swayed and pressured by those who are determined to steal Amanda's youth from her and keep her imprisoned until she's a middle aged woman for a crime she didn't commit. To those who believe that Amanda should be considered innocent until proven to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, there has never been evidence presented by the prosecution that comes close to meeting this standard, and that is why those who persecute Amanda are doing everything they can in the court of public opinion to turn the world against her and get the public to accept their efforts to win a wrongful conviction against her. I believe Amanda when she claims to have been struck during her forced all-night interrogation session without her lawyer present. Led to believe that she was helping by giving theories of how the crime was committed and by whom, Amanda was betrayed by the cunning and crafty authorities she'd trusted when they twisted the statements they'd bullied, browbeat, and demanded she produce, and then cruelly used them to falsely arrest her. Under intense pressure to produce suspects to satisfy the public outcry, protect their tourism industry, and satisfy parents that their city remained a safe place for parents to send their children to study abroad, they decided Amanda would be one of their most suitable sacrificial victims to calm the crisis of public confidence. And all this makes me wonder...is this city still one of the best places for foreign tourists to visit and for parents to consider when searching for a nice place to send their young children who want to study abroad? Most people would be horrified to think that they were contributing in any way to the enslavement of another human being. However, in essence, that is precisely what some in the media do when they slant and sensationalize their stories to suggest that Amanda Knox is guilty of the charges against her. What they are doing is taking an innocent girl wrongfully accused of a crime she didn’t commit and making the circumstantial evidence against her appear as damning as they possibly can in order to make their story more marketable. They would never do this to anyone they know, yet they act without mercy or remorse to ruin the life of this young woman who is a stranger to them. Sadly, young men and women over the centuries have been sold at slave markets by those who think of them as valuable property and not people just like themselves with hopes and dreams for their future, and those willing to sell Amanda Knox into the slavery and horror of a thirty year prison sentence for money are as evil as any of those who have ever participated in the slave trade.
Amanda has a strong network of friends, comrades, and family members who stand by her during her terrible ordeal. They understand her innocence and are determined to do everything in their power to help her in her darkest hours....Pleae pray for her and Raffael!
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