Cleveland kidnapping victim Michelle Knight will release her memoir, "Finding Me," on May 6, the one-year anniversary of her escape from a house of horrors.
The book details the injustices she suffered at the hands of Ariel Castro while being held captive with two other women—Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus. The women were held hostage inside Castro's house for over ten years.
Knight, 33, was kidnapped in 2002, and subjected to sexual, mental, and physical abuses. She has described being chained, tied up with extension cords, gagged, and other unimaginable tortures. The women escaped on May 6, 2013, after Berry was able to summon help.
In the year since the escape, Knight moved into her own apartment, enrolled in cooking school, and changed her name to "Lily." She said the name symbolizes a new beginning, and is her favorite flower.
Berry and DeJesus have partnered with Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post writers to pen their own book. Although Knight no longer has contact with them, she wished them the best.
"I love them and they love me. Hopefully we'll all get back together again," she told People Magazine.
Knight also discussed how much more life means to her, now that she is free from bondage.
"I don't take things for granted anymore," she said. "Not even the little things like looking out a window. I went through years of torture, and now I'm back. I'm free to fly."
Castro, 53, was sentenced to life in prison in August 2013. Knight was the only victim to appear at the hearing, and delivered a powerful message to her former captor.
"You took 11 years of my life away," she said. "I spent 11 years in hell, now your hell is just beginning. I will overcome all this that has happened, but you will face hell for eternity.
"I will live on, you will die a little very day as you think of the 11 years of atrocities that you inflicted on us. ... I can forgive you, but I will never forget."
Castro hung himself in his jail cell one month later.
