Starred review from February 14, 2025
In this memoir written with Michelle Burford, three-time Olympic gold-medal basketball player Griner lays bare her experience of being imprisoned in Russia in 2022. The memoir begins with her backstory, as Griner shares how she became who she is today. When Griner was a high school senior, she was outed as a lesbian by a teammate's mother, which sent her into a tailspin. However, she forged on, playing women's basketball at Baylor University and then with the Phoenix Mercury. Like many other WNBA players, pay disparity led Griner to play in other countries during the off-season; this is why she was flying into Moscow in 2022. There, she was detained for possession of medically prescribed cannabis oil. Throughout the nearly yearlong ordeal that followed, Griner stayed strong, forging meaningful relationships with other prisoners and eventually coming home through a prisoner trade between Russia and the United States. Griner reads the introduction for the audio edition, while Andia Winslow narrates the bulk of the book, capturing Griner's pitch and manner with clarity and feeling. Winslow speaks with an even, carefully inflected tone, providing a window into the inner turmoil Griner experienced as she was kept from her loved ones. VERDICT A deeply affecting account, revealing Griner's resilience and the deep love that sustained her throughout a harrowing time.--Misty Schattle
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