Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System
Written by Cyntoia Brown-Long
Narrated by Cyntoia Brown-Long
5/5
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About this audiobook
In her own words, Cyntoia Brown-Long shares the riveting and redemptive story of how she changed her life for the better while in prison, finding hope through faith after a traumatic adolescence of drug addiction, rape, and sex trafficking led to a murder conviction.
“Those...years in prison hadn’t just turned me into woman. They transformed me. The girl who desperately wanted to belong, who felt powerless, who clawed, and scratched her way out of every corner she was backed into, was gone.”
At the age of sixteen, Cyntoia Brown, a survivor of human trafficking, was arrested for killing a man who had picked her up for sex. Two years later, she was sentenced to life in prison.
Brown reflects on the isolation, low self-esteem, and sense of alienation that drove her straight into the hands of a predator. Once in prison, she attempts to build a positive path and honor the values her beloved adoptive mother, Ellenette, taught her, but Cyntoia succumbs to harmful influences that drive her to a cycle of progress and setbacks. Then, a fateful meeting with a prison educator turned mentor offers Cyntoia the opportunity to make the pivotal decision to strive for a better future, even if she’s never freed.
In these pages, Cyntoia shares the details of her transformation, including a profound encounter with God, an unlikely romance, an unprecedented outpouring of support from social media advocates and A-list celebrities, and her release from prison. A coming-of-age memoir set against the shocking backdrop of a life behind bars, Free Cyntoia takes you on a spiritual journey as Cyntoia struggles to overcome a lifetime of feeling ostracized and abandoned by society.
Cyntoia Brown-Long
Cyntoia Brown-Long was sentenced to life in prison for killing a forty-three-year-old man after he bought her for sex when she was only sixteen years old. In January 2019, after she served nearly fifteen years at Tennessee Prison for Women, Tennessee governor Bill Halsam granted her full clemency. During her time in prison, Cyntoia earned an associate’s and bachelor’s degree from Lipscomb University, a prestigious Christian institution. She also counseled other inmates and started the GLITTER (Grassroots Learning Initiative on Teen Trafficking, Exploitation, and Rape) Project. After her release in August 2019, she hopes to be a voice for justice and victims of sexual violence, and looks forward to starting her life as a recently married woman.
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Reviews for Free Cyntoia
115 ratings26 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What a testimony I love this book. To God be the glory.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved this book it was a very good read
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An amazing read. To hear her story and what happened to her was very enlightening. I don’t understand how the system took up for a 42 yr old man picking up a 16 yr old for sexual entertainment, she told the man how old she was and instead of providing a way out or just leaving her alone, he still engaged her, and somehow the judicial system gave her a life sentence. I’m glad she’s found love and is out living her reformed life. She deserves all her blessings. ?
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cyntoia was very transparent in sharing her story. Although she had experienced some of the most horrific treatment that no one should ever have to face, she survived and in the end, thrived!
So happy for you Cyntoia and thankful for what God has done in your life!1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hearing Cyntoia first hand experience was life changing! Thank you!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent book to read. Well written. We serve an awesome God.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A beautiful story of faith, perseverance and finding love. A rough times reminding me of Coldest Winter Ever, however with the happy ending we always hope for. Many blessings to her and her family.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Not the transformational attitude I expected. It was the desire for acceptance by men that motivated and led til the end.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Simply beautiful and very inspiring. The author narrating her story read was difficult to hear some times but her voice and testimony drew me in. I'll be getting a physical copy to add to my library!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beautiful book, story and person!!! May God continue to bless others through you! You are such a Beautiful and inspiring soul!☺️?
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wow! I appreciate this story so much! There is nothing that God cannot do! It’s a beautiful well written, well read story. I’ve engaged myself in full dedication to finish it. I was in disbelief that people treated her like that. It evoked every emotion! Praise God for the Journey of Cyntoia Brown!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book touched me deeply! To hear the story from her point of view and hear her life story was incredible and very inspiring!!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It was a good and interesting about her life.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Must read! Five stars and worth the time to read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cyntoia , your life had GOD written all over it , from the beginning . This book held my attention the entire read . It spoke to my heart, and I felt so many emotions . Your life has definitely been a journey .
This book is a MUST read !!!! - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I've followed Cyntoia's story from the beginning and always wondered why she was given life. I never understood how a 16 year old female, with a 43 year old male who was trolling deserved a life sentence. Especially since she always stated she killed him. While living(in a hotel), making and giving money, to her 24 year old boyfriend/pimp, "Kut - Throat"
Her book adequately shows how she was streamlined from school(gifted student)to the prison pipeline. Plus, the impact of fetal alcohol syndrome, while in utero. Glad she made the decision to change her life. Redemption is the best turn around possible.
Couldn't get into the book. Cyntoia narrators and it took me a few to actually get into it. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Such a powerful story of God's redeeming grace and the wonders if forgiveness.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book blessed me so much. She encouraged me to do more in my life
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazing book. I have been following her story from the beginning. She deserved to be free!! And i knew she would be!!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good book. Well written and the organization of the storyline flowed beautifully. Very religious though, so if Christianity reading isn't for you then this may not be a good choice.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5She went through hell and made it out! Amazing book. I was in shock, laughed at parts and cried at parts. Very good book!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I found this a real eye opener net. She certainly ad been used and abused. So glad she is thriving now. A fine example of rehabilitation done correctly. Good luck for the rest of your life.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5God is good all the the time! Thank you Lord!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Your story is inspiring! Thank you so much for sharing
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A overwhelming achievement during a time in ones life of despair
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great read very inspiring to hear the story told in her own word. God never fails.