#1 National Bestseller and Finalist for the OLA Evergreen Award

In October 2008, Mellissa Fung, a long-time reporter for CBC’s The National, was leaving a refugee camp outside of Kabul. Suddenly, she was grabbed by armed men claiming to be Taliban, stabbed, stuffed into the back of a car and driven off into the desert. When the group finally reached a village in the middle of nowhere, her kidnappers pushed her towards a hole in the ground. For twenty-eight days, Mellissa Fung lived in that hole, which was barely big enough to stand up or lie down in, nursing her injuries, praying, writing in her notebook and, as a veteran journalist, interrogating her own captors. Under an Afghan Sky is the gripping tale of Fung’s days in captivity, and a powerful book about survival and the indomitable spirit of one woman in the most perilous of circumstances.

MELLISSA FUNG is a veteran journalist, bestselling author and filmmaker. In 2008, as a field correspondent covering Afghanistan for the CBC, she was taken hostage, an experience that led to her number-one-bestselling book Under An Afghan Sky. Her story, and those of three Nigerian girls, were the subject of her first feature documentary, Captive, which premiered in 2021 and has been nominated for several major awards. Since leaving the network, Fung has focused on human rights reporting. Her work has been featured in the Globe and Mail, the Huffington Post, the Walrus and the Toronto Star, and on Al Jazeera, CNN, PBS and other media. She has received numerous awards, including the Gracie Award, a Commonwealth Broadcasting Association award and the New York Festivals Gold and Silver Awards. Mellissa Fung holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.

Mellissa Fung's profile page

• OLA Evergreen Award

“[A] richly detailed chronicle of [Fung’s] ordeal.” — The Globe and Mail

“Engrossing.” — Winnipeg Free Press

“Fung invites us into her worst nightmare, providing honest reflections on her own strengths and limitations.” — Quill & Quire

“A breathtaking and deeply personal memoir of her capture and confinement, and her release a gruelling 28 days later. The book is testament to Fung’s passion for storytelling and her enduring spirit.” — Trek Magazine

“This is an important book that can lead the reader to a better understanding of a very complicated country.” — Marina Nemat, author of Prisoner of Tehran

“Mellissa Fung’s vivid portrait of the soul of a journalist even in the most terrifying of circumstances is a recognition of the never yielding human spirit. When we follow our calling it can save our lives. Her experience is an example of this.” — Sandra Oh, co-star of Grey’s Anatomy

“This breath-taking, deeply moving memoir of the nightmare of being taken hostage is immensely readable and compelling. The enormity of the experience is matched by the brilliance of the writing. This is a must-read for anyone interested in what’s happening in Afghanistan today.” — Adrienne Clarkson

“I came away feeling that anybody else but Mellissa would probably have perished and that she survived because of the strength of her character, which certainly surprised some of her kidnappers. I was totally captivated.” — Linden MacIntyre, author of the Giller Prize-winning The Bishop’s Man

“Vivid in its detail, dramatic in its conversation, Under an Afghan Sky is riveting journalism, and guess what? There’s even an endearing love story that runs throughout the book.” — Peter Mansbridge

A Very Human and Realistic Account

by deuxvoiliers

Melissa Fung's account of her kidnapping and captivity by a group of young Afghan fighters is not only a realistic tale, but also offers insights into human nature that are so often absent from the debate over Afghanistan. The insights go two ways. Not only are we exposed to the brainwashed mentalities of these young fighters whose distorted and simplistic religious beliefs deprive them of a rational view of the world and any semblance of tolerance for the views of others, but we are exposed to the deeply religious beliefs of Melissa Fung herself, which help carry her through her captivity. In the midst of this, somehow Fung and her captors find common ground as she struggles to communicate with them. Driven by fear, she reaches out to her captors and tries to encourage their humanity, only to discover a degree of warmth and compassion completely out of place with their role as the aggressors. Fung's work turns the tables on those who would like to portray the war in Afghanistan as simply as a matter of good and evil. It connects us with another perspective on this war, which at times we may be uncomfortable accepting.