Book excerpt: This autobiography describes the hours before and after Terry Waite was taken hostage in January 1987 in Beirut. Waite analyzes his thoughts and feelings immediately prior to captivity - what was the nature of his role as envoy for the Archbishop of Canterbury? What was his relationship with the Americans and Colonel Oliver North? The book looks at Waite from his upbringing in Styal, Cheshire, until after his release in November 1991, when he had become one of the best-known figures of his time. It is an account of his years in solitary confinement and of the inner strengths which enabled him to survive.