"A Sliver of Light weaves a spellbinding tale of hard-won survival at the intersection of courage and love -- the love of friends struggling to support one another in wretched circumstances, the unyielding bedrock of mothers' love for their long-lost children, and the fiercely tested love of three people for the family of humankind. It is a triumph of writing born of a triumph of being." -- Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the Tree and The Noonday Demon

In summer 2009, Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal, and Sarah Shourd were hiking in the mountains of Iraqi...