AMERICAN GIRLS

The story of Samantha Sally, whose family was torn apart when her extremist husband joined the Islamic State group, and her sister, Lori, who was instrumental in getting her back to the U.S. from Syria.

In a book based on more than three years of interviews, Roy, the former digital director at Elle, digs into an intriguing question: “How did a young mother from Arkansas…end up living in Syria under a murderous militant group?” In 2015, on the border of Turkey and Syria, Samantha watched her husband, Moussa, running away—with their toddler, their savings, and Samantha’s passport—toward the then-headquarters of IS. Desperate, she followed them and ended up imprisoned there by Moussa. The author delineates not only the beginning of their relationship (the couple met in Indiana, introduced by Lori, who was married to Moussa’s brother), but the sisters’ earlier trauma. As children, both had been “sexually abused by a family member,” and they did not report it out of fear that their family would be divided. Roy argues that the experience manifested itself in “lack of trust, feelings of guilt and shame, revictimization.” Later, Sam was beaten and raped as part of a boyfriend’s gang initiation; Lori could hear it through the wall. “Even when they were kids,” the author writes, “Lori had always tried her best to shield Sam…but Sam never wanted protection.” In addition to reporting on the sisters’ interactions, Roy explores related issues of culpability and criminality: “Was it possible that Sam had chosen to stay—not because of her commitment to the cause, necessarily, but because she was too afraid to be sent to jail when she got home? Other Americans who had so much as tried to join IS had been charged and jailed.”

The details are shocking, but Roy provides a chilling reminder that this could happen to anyone.