Bonheur was and is my name. Every person in my native France knew the name meant sunshine, well-being, happiness. But how does one find happiness in a prison known worldwide for its coarse and brutal inhumanity? Fifteen painful years, prime years of youth, I endured in that terrible place determined to escape. Though I planned each escape carefully, something always went wrong, and I found myself trying to survive in soul-shattering solitary confinement. I was small of statue and not very strong compared to the hulking convicts I lived with, and yet I need not remind you that strength comes in many forms.
