Woman held captive in Cleveland has book deal

[November 25, 2013]  NEW YORK (AP) — One of three young women held captive for years in a Cleveland house has a book deal.

Michelle Knight's memoir is scheduled to come out next spring, publisher Weinstein Books announced Monday. The book is currently untitled and will be co-written by Michelle Burford, who worked on Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas' memoir.

"I want to give every victim of violence a new outlook on life," Knight said in a statement provided to The Associated Press by the publisher. "Victims need to know that no matter how hard it rains in the darkness, they will have the strength and courage that God gave them when they were born to rise above and overcome any obstacle that stands in their way."

According to Weinstein, Knight will tell the "full story" of being kidnapped in her early 20s by Ariel Castro and held for 11 years. Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus finally escaped last May. Castro, sentenced to life plus 1,000 years, hanged himself in his cell in September.

Berry and DeJesus are planning their own book, collaborating with a pair of Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporters, Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan.

[Associated Press]

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