Tales of arbitrary detention during the “war on terror” abound, with a growing number of memoirs by those who, while either covering the conflict or trying to mitigate its worst effects, have fallen victim to kidnapping and confinement. CBC reporter Mellissa Fung was stabbed and kidnapped while on assignment in Afghanistan in 2008. In Under an Afghan Sky, she ably recounts her harrowing 28 days held prisoner in a tiny cave, documenting moments of sheer brutality as well as endless boredom occasionally punctuated by flashes of anger, hope, and despair.

It’s a powerful, warts-and-all study of how someone stays together in an unimaginable situation rife with incessant self-questioning and “what-if” scenarios: could she strangle her sleeping captor while he snores? Would she be able to get out of the hole under her own steam? Could she evade other potential kidnappers and reach safety in Kabul? Will a ransom be paid that will only encourage further kidnappings? Each answer only gives rise to more questions, leading to a debilitating stasis, followed by renewed efforts to pass the time: chain-smoking cigarettes, writing letters to loved ones that may never be read, and, in one surreal moment, trading off Christian and Muslim prayers and songs with her captors.

A natural reporter, Fung asks questions of her captors, seeking to understand the world of those who have brutalized her, and actually managing to find empathy with them. But empathy does not blind her to the truth, and Fung incessantly challenges her captors, asking one how he would feel if his wife were kidnapped. Later, this very wife makes fried potatoes for Fung and reprimands her husband for his actions, a message the sheepish man dutifully delivers to his captive.

Like James Loney in his recently published memoir, Captivity, Fung invites us into her worst nightmare, providing honest reflections on her own strengths and limitations. While some issues could have been addressed in greater detail – such as the extent to which being embedded with Canadian troops affected Fung’s perceptions and coverage of the Afghan story – that takes nothing away from her courageous contribution to the written history of the past decade.