Stolen

Stolen is a 2009 psychological thriller novel by British Australian author Lucy Christopher. Stolen, her debut novel, won the Branford Boase Award and the Gold Inky Award. The story follows 16-year-old Gemma Toombs, who is kidnapped by a mysterious stranger named Ty while on a layover at the Bangkok airport. As Gemma tries to survive and escape from her captor, the novel explores themes of trauma, captivity, and the emotional complexity of Stockholm syndrome.

This study guide refers to the 2010 Kindle eBook First American Edition published by Chicken House, an imprint of Scholastic.

Content Warning: The source text material features depictions of suicide and kidnapping.

Plot Summary

Gemma Toombs, a 16-year-old girl, is on a layover at the Bangkok airport, waiting for her flight to Vietnam to spend the summer with her father. She meets a charming, handsome stranger named Ty, who buys her a coffee, and they strike up a conversation. Gemma is initially wary but eventually feels at ease with the friendly and charismatic man.

As they talk, Ty convinces Gemma to take a walk with him outside the airport. Once they are outside, he suddenly drugs her, and she becomes disoriented and unable to move. Ty takes her to a van, where she is tied up and driven away.

Gemma wakes up in a remote desert hideout in the Australian Outback, with no idea how she got there. Ty is her captor, and he refuses to tell her why he kidnapped her or where they are. Gemma tries to escape multiple times, but the hideout is surrounded by miles of desert, and she has no food, water, or resources.

Ty begins to take care of Gemma, feeding her, providing her with water, and tending to her wounds. Gemma discovers Ty’s art shed, where he paints representations of the land on the floor, walls, and his own body. He reveals his almost spiritual connection with the land and his desire to become a part of it. He also starts to open up to her, telling her about his childhood and his past. Gemma learns his mother abandoned him, and his father neglected him on a farm in the Outback. He saw his life in orphanages and foster care as a form of imprisonment. He went looking for his mother in London and found only a drug den. He turned to drugs and alcohol and lived in shelters. He encountered young Gemma in a park talking to the flowers. He fixated on her and began to stalk her, observing every aspect of her life and protecting her from perceived threats. He reveals that he was the one who attacked her classmate, Josh, when the boy suggestively followed a drunk Gemma through the park. Gemma is torn between her fear and anger toward Ty and her growing curiosity about his motivations.

Gemma begins to accompany Ty on more of his daily movements. They catch a wild camel together, and Gemma takes note of how to drive the car. At her first opportunity, she threatens Ty with a needle, steals the keys, and takes off in the car. She drives far, but the car gets stuck in the sand. She has no choice but to trudge back toward Ty’s encampment. Dehydrated and badly burned, she nearly dies until Ty rescues her. He tends to her wounds, and she begins to feel closer to him.

After seeing his painting in the full sunset light, she feels more spiritually connected to him. She lets him tell her about the land and the mythology of the stars and falls asleep in his arms. In the morning, she follows him to a sandy patch where he is trying to catch a venomous snake. The snake bites Gemma, and she immediately becomes ill.

Ty tries to administer antivenom, but it doesn’t work. He gives her the choice to ride it out with him or seek help at the nearby mining site. She chooses the mining site. They make the perilous trip there as she gets sicker and sicker. She clings to him, wanting him close. As they medivac her to a bigger city, she wants him to come on the plane. He knows this means he will be caught but accompanies her anyway.

At the hospital, Gemma is finally reunited with her parents. Ty is taken into custody. Gemma struggles to recover emotionally, unable to speak about the experience. Her psychologist suggests she has Stockholm syndrome and recommends she write a letter to Ty, which forms the text of the book. She looks ahead to the trial and imagines what she will say. She hopes Ty will return to the land he loves and grow to be a better person. She recognizes that this experience has changed her forever.