Cheryl had me at the first line: "My first near death experience occurs at age four, when the brakes fail, with my dad at the wheel, sending us hurtling down the Himalayas." I love one liners and this one is truly gripping. Grab your passports and let Cheryl take you down the ultimate emotional rollercoaster of self discovery and triumph. Nowhere Girl was an impossible to believe true story based on Diamonds life growing up with a family full of secrets.

This was a wild ride and so crazy that it had to be true! It was equal parts cringey, funny, heartwarming, and harrowing. How can one person go through so much and still keep going. I just finished it last night and am still processing everything. The writing was super engaging and this is definitely a page turner. I liked that everything wasn't happily ever after but it was hopeful.

3.5
“What if you were born on the run?”

Did someone say non-fiction that reads like fiction? Because that is what you’ll find in “Nowhere Girl”: a memoir of a one-of-a-kind, not-necessarily-healthy childhood reminiscent of “Educated” & “The Glass Castle”.

Cheryl/Crystal/Bhajan/Harbhajan tells the true story of her childhood - growing up in a family of fugitive outlaws constantly on the run, expecting nothing less than absolute discretion & perfection.

This book was such a quick read, I was immediately captivated and the first 200 ish pages flew by lightning speed. I won’t lie the last 100 or so pages were slower and it lost my interest a bit.

I was astonished by Cheryls life and the situations she was put in (& I still have questions!). I won’t lie, the reasoning of why they’re on the run was really anticlimactic and made all of their decisions seem really effing dramatic!! (. ++++ they went on the run to prevent x but their life on the road still caused x ?!?!).

Does she have a bit of an ego? Yes… but it didn’t quite bother me until towards the end. Regardless this book was SO unique and captivating it was well worth the read!

Trigger warnings: violence, assault, sexual assault, gaslighting, disordered eating (& probably some more I am missing)

I also want to shout or the book jacket designer Christopher Moisan because I am obsessed with the texturing and design particularly on the back cover.

Thank you to my friends at Algonquin for this gifted copy!

I really enjoyed this book and put myself in this book along with the character and to say I felt the pain she did. I have not lived the life this character has but we have many things in common and one of those is she never gave up even when she had nothing she still found a way. I admire her strength through everything she went through she was determined to make a better life for herself and stop running.

Wow. This is a book that won't leave me soon. Cheryl Diamond's memoir reminded me so much of both Educated by Tara Westover and The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. A very strong rebellious male figurehead and the family that lives in his strict framework. Living off the grid. Hiding from mainstream society. Fear of "outsiders". This story had the added aspect of the family spending their whole lives on the run, trying to escape the clutches of the man they saw as their greatest enemy. The suffering, trauma, and fear Diamond had to endure in her childhood will leave you speechless, but you will also be inspired by her incredible fortitude and strength. I withheld a star as the writing could have been a bit better, the story more developed, but it is a raw and gritty true story that will make you think and make you thankful.

“Nowhere Girl” by Cheryl Diamond is the captivating true life story of a girl who sees her life as one big adventure… until it isn’t. Diamond’s family is seemingly on the run and move from place to place at the drop of a hat. As Diamond grows older, she begins to see her family for what it is, a band of survivalists with a paranoid man at their core. Unwilling to continue living this way, Diamond escapes and betrays every instinct she has been taught. Overall, this is a coming-of-age memoir about survival, family, and freedom.

This book was so so good. If you are a fan of memoirs, this read is for you. Diamond is raw and open, sharing her life as it happened through her eyes. There’s no added commentary or thoughts, the reader simply sees each moment as a ten year old, or a fourteen year old, simply a child who loves her family and feels that within her family is the only safe place.

Family dysfunction is a large theme throughout the book, both with her mother’s family and within her own family. Two strong patriarchs battling becomes something more and more until the feud is warped beyond recognition, painting both in a dark light. Diamond’s ability to recognize the dysfunction is incredible, especially being raised within the environment. Her desire for change is captivating.

Overall, I couldn’t put this book down. Cheryl Diamond’s story is unique and interesting. Her telling of her life is storytelling at its finest. I gave this book 5 stars.

Thanks to Algonquin Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Nowhere Girl by Cheryl Diamond is a well-written memoir that dragged on a bit too long. The author has lived with many different names, with Harbhajan seeming to be her original name. The family was frequently moving and using different names to evade law enforcement for a crime we eventually learn about. I was surprised at many actions this family took, especially training as a professional athlete while trying to maintain a low profile. If this was not a memoir, I would have thought it was a poor plot. Unfortunately, this poor woman grew up with a bizarre childhood as she and her family were manipulated by their domineering father.

Although the writing was good, the editing could have pared it down to a more manageable length. I wanted to know how her life turned out, but I was eagerly awaiting the end.

I will recommend this book to readers who enjoy reading memoirs of people who overcame childhood trauma.

I thank NetGalley and the publisher, Algonquin Books for an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

By the age of nine, Harbhajan has lived on five continents under six different identities. Living life on the run, fleeing from Interpol, is the norm. And as a young child, it can even feel like an exciting adventure. With age, however, comes the ability to take off the blinders and see it for what it is: an elaborate scam that is tearing her family apart from the inside out. But how do you break free when you don't even exist? When nowhere is home?

This was so incredibly interesting. I had to keep reminding myself throughout that I was reading nonfiction. It all seemed so impossible to fit into one tiny, child-size life, that I kept thinking it was fiction. I also kept thinking how much more difficult it would have been in present day, with social media and cctv everywhere. I mean, would it even be possible? Certainly not with the Olympic aspect, but otherwise, I suppose people still go on the run (man, that seems so much more abstract than it used to). Nevertheless, I cannot even fathom the strength required to survive the constant chaos.

I loved the cover and the description seemed tailor made for my interests. What could go wrong? As it turns out, quite a bit.

The set up and structure of the book was a little odd. Each chapter (or section) was basically one year of her life. That’s fine but the level of detail varied very wildly. Oddly, the chapters about her early life were much longer and more detailed than that of her life as a young adult and model when presumably, she’d remember more and be more involved in the logistics and happenings of her own life. A little odd but I can roll with it. I’ve found many, many book start of very wordy and involved and then wrap up very quickly–presumably when the author realizes they need to finish and no one wants to read a 1,000 page book!

She is the youngest child, her siblings are older teenagers when the book begins but even into their twenties, they are still travelling from city to city, country to country with their parents. At one point her sister enrolls in college but then they have to leave suddenly before she can complete her studies. This is one of those situations I’ve encountered mostly in books that I think of as a “cult of one family” where one or both parents are so strong willed and domineering they have outsized control of the family so this didn’t seem too strange. If they too had grown up on the lam, it would be all they knew.

This is where I started to run into some issues with the book. The whole premise is that her parents are constantly changing identities and locations to avoid trouble. But what trouble? It isn’t addressed until well into the book–more than halfway and even then it is confusing. The villain seems to be her maternal grandfather and her dad is said to have stolen some money? It is really glossed over and I was never sure if she was saying the police were actually involved? It was also confusing because her mother was in contact with her father from pay phones periodically. Why? Later in the book they move back to the states and the author even begins a relationship with her grandparents. Why? How? I was never quite sure.

I really hate to say it but many, many parts of the book did not line up for me. I truly wonder if any of it was fact checked or corroborated by the publisher. The author writes under a fake name, one of her many aliases. She doesn’t give the original name for any of her family. Her stories about troubles getting authentic legal documents like a passport ring false. She was born on the run and off the grid and her birth certificate from NZ had her parents fake names on it which causes issues but then they are able to find a nurse who was at her birth nearly a quarter of a century before and who some how remembers her birth and is willing to testify who she is and who her parents are?

By my calculations her father (who is revealed to be about 20+ years older than her mother about 3/4 of the way through) had to be around sixty when the book began. Never is his age mentioned as a factor in anything. Of course you can be a spry 60 something but by the end of the book he had to be in or near his eighties yet was still physically intimidating his daughter. Speaking of that, there is one scene where her dad stabs her sister in the leg with a pen while they are on the way to a public place with lots of people but then there is no discussion of how the sister was able to walk properly, why no one noticed the blood or torn clothing? There were so many instances of this–a wild story and then no follow up and no one paid them any attention.

Another bizarre bit is that during these many years they are on the lam, the author is training to be an elite gymnast. They even go so far as a hire a full time coach who moves from his home with his family to work with her. Why on earth would you have your child train for the Olympics if you were on the run from your family and authorities? Putting aside that people might recognize you as the world of elite athletes is small, they are moving all the time! How could anyone successfully train that way? She also becomes a model in her teens which is also glossed over–she seems to be able to rent an apartment as a child with fake documents and live there on her own?

There were some other odd bits too–at one point they move to Northern Virginia and become Conservative Jews because of her father’s frankly anti-sematic view that it would be a good way to get close to people with money and power. This is never really addressed. Diamond ends up attending Hebrew school and a Jewish day school and no one ever seems so suspect that they just became Jewish, as a family and with no training or actual conversion overnight? She is middle school aged at this point so should be a more reliable narrator and involved but she really isn’t.

I would love to read her previous memoir about being a model. I can’t bring myself to give this woman money so I requested through inter-state library loan. I did read some reviews and a few were very skeptical about the truthfulness of the book. I am not surprised because most of this book didn’t make a bit of sense if you thought about it for more than a minute.

I would not be surprised if the author did live a transient life with her abusive, charismatic parents and siblings. I even think her dad sounded like he was a low level hustler or con artist–having money was a constant and there were a few location details that rang true but I don’t believe the vast majority of the book happened the way she said it did at all. I would not be surprised if she was a low level model of some kind–hair modeling was mentioned and even I was a hair model back in college, all you need is hair–and she didn’t complete her studies and moved around a lot. I don’t think most events in her life happened as she presented them. I really don’t know how it made it to print. It’s an interesting story but even if it was 100% true she glosses over so much–sometimes almost whole years are reduced to her having a cat–there isn’t much a of a narrative there. She doesn’t seem to overcome her childhood, she doesn’t have any insight into what happened or how it was. It was very flat and you’d have to be very naïve to take any of it at face value.

This is a fascinating, if uneven, memoir of a childhood of uncertainty, evasion, and abuse that took place across continents. Diamond's father told his children he was wanted by Interpol and thus he had to change their names, their back stories, and everything about their lives multiple times. So many times that Diamond had no real clue as to who she really was. The claustrophobic existence where everyone depended only on each other started to fall apart as the kids got older and grew in athletic prowess, among other things. That, however, doesn't entirely solve things for Diamond, who finds that her past and her future are, well, compromised. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It's a tale that borders on the unbelievable.

This was a fascinating book made all the more disturbing in that it happened. I like that it doesn't skip around and was well told chronologically. Cheryl's life is heartbreaking and sad but all the while interesting and suspenseful. The only downside is that it leaves a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of wondering why the police FBI aren't looking for some of the missing people towards the end.

Imagine being raised as an outlaw, constantly changing names, running in the middle of the nights to different countries, having a new backstory, not being able to make friends, that’s crazy!! Harbhajan/Cheryls life was wild, being constantly on the run, and difficult siblings, and then finding out her parents true identities and their secrets.
The thing I love most about this book is Cheryls courage, even after everything that has happened she doesn’t hate her parents or the life she led, this was just a lesson to be learned, and that’s empowering.

Thanks Netgalley and the publishers for sending me an actual book, I will be reading this book again for sure.

This book is a fascinating memoir. Harbhajan/Cheryl was born into a family of outlaws who are on the run from Interpol. The story begins when Cheryl is four years old and continues throughout her childhood and into her adulthood. Her family abruptly moves often and never stays in any one place for too long, making for a tumultuous and challenging childhood.

This book was an emotionally challenging read because of the child abuse Cheryl experienced from her brother and controlling father. It was very eye opening for me and helped me better understand why victims can't always escape their abusers.

Sections of the book were a bit hard to follow as it quickly jumped from one scene to the next with no clear transition. However, I really liked the overall flow. Diamond separates the book in chapters based on her age and location. I particularly enjoyed the chapters when she was younger as I really felt like I was in the mind of a four year old. This perspective made certain situations more entertaining.

Diamond's story is really astounding. The courage and strength she has to endure such challenging circumstances is extraordinary. I definitely recommend this memoir! 

TW: Child abuse, child sexual assault 

Thanks to Algonquin  for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, this book! I wasn’t sure what to think going in, but it was billed as similar to THE GLASS CASTLE, so I gave it a try. I am so glad I did.

NOWHERE GIRL is an incredibly powerful story. It pulls off being both unique AND relatable. On the unique side, the author was raised by outlaw parents who kept their family of five on the run all across the world fleeing Interpol. But the manipulation and abuse within her family are relatable to anyone who has experienced gaslighting or narcissism within a group dynamic.

The first few chapters are hard to believe - as other reviewers have noted, it is unlikely that the author’s memories from age four are this detailed and clear. But keep reading. Because about midway through the story gets REALLY good, as she wrestles with the crazy, almost unbelievable highs and lows of the path her family travels. Watching her find her strength, walk away from people who use and abuse her and start over is incredible and inspiring. Her awakening is also slower than one would hope, which is part of what gives this memoir credibility. There are real gems in these pages as she differentiates herself from the people who raised her, and learns to lean on those differences as she builds her own life. This was a breathtaking read, and I highly recommend it.

Thanks to Algonquin and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Cheryl Diamond's life story is harrowing from the beginning and becomes a horrifying struggle for survival, both physical and psychological. Totally unbelievable, yet totally believable.

This book was so riveting I was both loathe to put it down and worried about what would happen next. I still don’t know how I feel about Ms. Diamond. She is a heroine and a villain,. Her family traveled the world, and this isn’t a travelogue. They blended in wherever they went, and at the same time they didn’t belong anywhere. Their story stayed with me long after I finished the book. I highly recommend it,

I read Nowhere Girl in two sittings and was lucky enough to hear Ms. Diamond speak at the LJ Day of Dialog conference. What a story. Fascinating, harrowing, emotional, and well-written, I could hardly put the book down.

Born to a family of outlaws, Harbhajan/Cheryl only knows running, hiding, and sticking with her parents and two siblings at all costs. This book follows her life from a 4 year old to a 30 year old. Although the book was well written, I hate to admit it, but I did not enjoy this book. The voice was the same throughout, whether Harbhajan was 4, 12, or 20. Background details were so vague throughout that there didn't seem to be any momentum or forward progression. Overall, not a book I would re-read or recommend.

A very interesting read and not at all what I expected. It made me mad, sad, hopeful and frustrated -- mostly on behalf of the children. Part of me thought "what cool experiences" these kids had but then I thought how ill equipped they were for life in a first world country. If was really tricky not to judge these parents for their choices; we are all doing the best we can with what we have to work with. That said, I definitely wouldn't have survived to write about it.

Nowhere Girl is an intriguing memoir reminiscent of The Glass Castle and Educated. It is the incredible story of a dysfunctional family on the run from Interpol. Although difficult to read at times, Cheryl’s story is captivating, filled with adventure and exhilaration. Her resilience is admirable and inspiring. Although the ending was satisfying, I was left with many unanswered questions. I’d love to know more about what became of her family members and about her personal life as an adult. Thank you to Netgalley and Algonquin Books for sharing an ARC with me in exchange for an honest review.