Between Heaven and Ground Zero: One Woman's Struggle for Survival and Faith in the Ashes of 9/11 [Hardcover]

Leslie Haskin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2006

A Second Chance at Life On the sunny morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, terrorists murdered more than twenty-seven hundred people in an attack on New York City. Thousands died when a hijacked Boeing 767 slammed into Tower One of the World Trade Center. It was first blood. For Leslie Haskin, it was a second chance at life. This is the riveting account of Leslie's harrowing escape--down 36 floors in a doomed and dying building and away from a life focused on perks, prestige, and power. The intervening months brought crippling mental and emotional distress, but from the rubble and ashes, the corporate climber rediscovered the faith of her childhood and now embraces a new life of serving others.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Leslie's story is raw and real....this powerful story has something to teach every reader." -- Bookloons.com

From the Back Cover

"Hang onto your heart…. While this is not an emotionally easy read it is a redemptive one. We witness in Leslie the reverberation of the human spirit as she recovers her footing after September 11. How extraordinarily courageous of her to let us see how she found her way out of the unthinkable." --Patsy Clairmont, Speaker for Women of Faith and Author of All Cracked Up

"Between Heaven and Ground Zero hits the nail on the head of two very large nails. First, it reminds us of the capacity for evil from jihadists that our nation still faces, and second and most important, that a personal relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the only source of personal and eternal peace." --Lt. Col. (Ret.) Brian Birdwell, Survivor of Pentagon attack and Founder of Face the Fire Ministry

"For those of us who want an inside peek at God’s compassionate presence in the midst of inscrutable tragedy, this book is as close an experience of 'being there' as we are likely to get. Leslie’s struggle for faith in the face of unanswered questions can inspire us all." --Paula Rinehart, Author of Strong Women, Soft Hearts and Sex and the Soul of a Woman

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Bethany House (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764202863
• ISBN-13: 978-0764202865
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,168,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's rare that I read a book that is so graphic in its depiction of horror..., June 5, 2007

By 

FaithfulReader.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Between Heaven and Ground Zero: One Woman's Struggle for Survival and Faith in the Ashes of 9/11 (Hardcover)

It's rare that I read a book that is so graphic in its depiction of horror that I feel like I need to set it down and walk away for a while. Between Heaven and GROUND ZERO is such a book. In it, Leslie Haskin, an insurance company executive, pulls no punches in recounting her harrowing escape from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

"More than anything, I wish I could speak of joy that came through all of the suffering on that particular morning, but I cannot. There was none, " she writes. "However, in the greatest moments of desperation and overwhelming sorrow, God's loving and outstretched arms were waiting for my acceptance. I now know that His holy presence and peace called to me at every point of overwhelming despondency and paralyzing trepidation.

I know that the Lord walked with me through that concourse. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...

He held me as my head turned about quickly and my eye scoped every inch of what remained. I will fear no evil.

It was another place entirely. It was surreal, like a 3-D movie; too gigantic and slow to participate in, yet too fast for retreat. I felt vulnerable and very mortal. For thou art with me.

Everything I saw broke my heart a little more. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me... Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the hour of the Lord for ever.

Amen."

In a note to the reader and at the beginning of the book, Haskin acknowledges that her story is just one fragment of the mosaic of personal stories that make up the truth about what happened on 9/11. Her retelling is flawed insomuch as she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and the factual details of that day continue to be shrouded in a veil of pain. And yet, Haskin provides a brave and powerful testament to the horror perpetrated on 9/11 through her willing to tell us what she remembers, so that we, too, never forget.

The details of Leslie's descent from her top-floor office via a staircase after the planes hit the World Trade Center is like a vision of a descent into hell. Her vivid descriptions of the warped building and suffering people around her are harrowing and disturbing. Even after all the media and cultural attention paid to this event, I gained a new sense of what evil was perpetrated on 9/11.

But more than being a story of collapsed towers, Between Heaven and Ground Zero is the story of a woman undone in a moment of extreme suffering. Leslie freely admits to the pride and hubris she had cultivated and harbored as a result of her successful career. By the morning of 9/11, she had long since strayed from the Christian faith of her childhood, instead worshipping the gods of money and power. And of course, these gods proved fickle during the slow march to safety that started in her office and forced her to continue walking in fear and pain many months after the attacks.

In the years that followed 9/11, Leslie lost her job, her car and her home. Her bout with PTSD has been severe and required intense medication and therapy. Her life as she knew it lay in rubble not unlike Towers 1 and 2. But, very much unlike those towers, Leslie has been rebuilt and stands tall again --- not in her own strength, but in the steadfast love of God.

She writes, "And so I have learned that my life does not belong to me. I understand now how words exhale life, and I will never again hold my breath for so long a time as this. I have relearned to inhale and then to exhale, and as I breathe through Him, the Lord, that is, something wonderful happens --- distance. Space comes between my emotions and me, and it yields an unexpected but welcome gift --- faith. My world broadens until my vision lifts high above the 'soils of despair' and I am soaring. Hallelujah!!"

Hallelujah, indeed.

--- Reviewed by Lisa Ann Cockrel

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational, March 28, 2007

By 

Annabelle Robertson "The Southern Girl's Guid... (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Between Heaven and Ground Zero: One Woman's Struggle for Survival and Faith in the Ashes of 9/11 (Hardcover)

Leslie Haskin begins this first-person 9/11 account by stating that she suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder. Given that she barely escaped from the 36th floor of the World Trade Center's Tower One, Haskin's anguish is understandable. In her diary-style memoir, this highly successful businesswoman details the events of that horrific day along with the dramatic changes made to her life - and worldview - following the attacks. Although Haskin's writing tends toward stream of consciousness, which can be difficult to follow, her story is both riveting and inspirational.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not able to put this down !, September 14, 2006

By 

Becky Johnson "Becky Johnson" (denver, colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Between Heaven and Ground Zero: One Woman's Struggle for Survival and Faith in the Ashes of 9/11 (Hardcover)

I must confess that my husband is Leslie's literary agent so I could have some bias here! However, I've read and shared this book with several friends and family members and every one of us started reading and had the same experience -- we couldn't stop until the last page was read. For me, this meant staying awake until 4:00 a.m. to finish. I read a lot of books, and this is highly unusual. (I love my sleep!) Though the book's fascination (and resulting compassion) comes through Leslie's excellent description of what it was like to have been in the towers that horrific day -- it touched me on several levels. Anyone who has had to recover from trauma, or struggled to forgive and put the puzzle pieces of their life back together again will find empathy, hope and healing here. Thrivers are given one very precious gift: their renewed focus on what really matters. I came away feeling a little closer to heaven for having walked, vicariously, through Leslie's hell.