Abrams, Ecco Have Betancourt Books
By Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly, 7/9/2008 2:48:00 PM
After six years in captivity, French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt was freed last week, along with three American hostages—and Abrams Image has the only book available about the time Betancourt spent imprisoned. The house published the slim $14.95 hardcover, Letters to My Mother: A Message of Love, A Plea for Freedom, with a foreword by Elie Wiesel, in May. The book contains a letter Betancourt wrote to her mother while she was captive, printed in English, French and Spanish.
Betancourt did not even know the book had been published until after her release. Abrams Image has 15,000 copies in print and is “poised to reprint,” said executive director of publicity Katrina Weidknecht. Betancourt was interviewed by Larry King last night, and Ann Curry interviewed her on the Today show in Paris today. A spokesperson for Betancourt said, “Everybody says it, and Ingrid agrees: the diffusion of her letter [via the publication of Letters to My Mother] was a very important push for her liberation.”
Separately, HarperCollins' Ecco imprint published Betancourt’s memoir, Until Death Do Us Part: My Struggle to Reclaim Colombia, in 2002. Harper Perennial will publish a paperback edition of that book in October, with a new subtitle: A Memoir by the Politician Recently Rescued from Colombian Rebels After Six Years in Captivity.
