Nowhere Girl: A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood

By the age of nine, I will have lived in more than a dozen countries, on five continents, under six assumed identities. I'll know how a document is forged, how to withstand an interrogation, and most important, how to disappear . . .

To the young Cheryl Diamond, life felt like one big adventure, whether she was hurtling down the Himalayas in a rickety car or mingling with underworld fixers. Her family appeared to be an unbreakable gang of five. One day they were in Australia, the next in South Africa, the pattern repeating as they crossed continents, changed identities, and erased their pasts. What Diamond didn't yet know was that she was born into a family of outlaws fleeing from the highest international law enforcement agencies, a family with secrets that would eventually catch up to all of them.

By the time she was in her teens, Diamond had lived dozens of lives and lies, but as she grew older, love and trust turned to fear and violence, and her family--the only people she had in the world--began to unravel. She started to realize that her life itself might be a big con, and the people she loved, the most dangerous of all. With no way out and her identity burned so often that she had no proof she even existed, all that was left was a girl from nowhere.

Surviving would require her to escape, and to do so Diamond would have to unlearn all the rules she grew up with. Wild, heartbreaking, and often unexpectedly funny, Nowhere Girl is an impossible-to-believe true story of self-discovery and triumph.

ISBN-13: 9781643752518

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

Publication Date: 06-14-2022

Pages: 320

Product Dimensions: 8.10(w) x 5.40(h) x 0.80(d)

Cheryl Diamond is now a citizen of Luxembourg and lives between there and Rome. Her behind-the-scenes account of life as a teenage model, Model: A Memoir, was published in 2008. Diamond´s second book, Naked Rome, reveals the Eternal City through the eyes of its most fascinating people. Her new book, Nowhere Girl: A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood, is available now.

Table of Contents

Prologue. Kashmir, India, age 4 1

Part 1

1 The Chase 17

2 Amritsar, India, age 4 20

3 Sydney, Australia, age 5 26

4 Cape Town, South Africa, age 5 31

5 Vancouver, age 6 40

6 Vancouver, age 7 52

7 British Columbia, age 7 57

8 Vancouver, age 8 60

9 Germany, age 8 65

10 Heidelberg, age 9 73

11 Frankfurt Airport, age 9 78

12 Heidelberg, age 9 81

13 Romania and Cairo, age 10 87

14 Vienna, age 10 93

15 Cyprus, age 10 97

16 Tel Aviv, Israel, age 11 103

17 Tel Aviv, age 11 112

18 Tel Aviv, age 11 118

19 Virginia, USA, age 12 120

20 Virginia, age 12 130

21 Virginia, age 13 134

22 Virginia, age 13 139

23 Virginia, age 13 147

24 Virginia, age 13 150

25 Virginia, age 13 157

26 Virginia, age 14 163

27 Virginia, age 15 172

28 North Carolina, age 15 176

Part 2

29 Luxembourg, Fall, 1979 183

30 3 a.m., Panama City, 1985 192

Part 3

31 North Carolina, age 15 207

32 New York City, age 16 213

33 New York City, age 17 220

34 New York City, age 21 228

35 New York City, age 22 232

36 New York City, age 22 239

37 Florida, age 23 241

38 Florida, age 24 248

39 Florida, age 24 252

Part 4

40 On the road / Luxembourg, age 24 257

41 Luxembourg, age 24 266

42 Berlin, age 25 270

43 Lauchhammer Hospital, Germany, at Christmas, age 26 277

44 Tuscany, age 27 281

45 Luxembourg, age 27 284

46 Rome, age 27 291

47 Luxembourg, age 28 301

Epilogue. Rome, age 30 305

Acknowledgments 309

Questions for Discussion 310

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