US: Former US army prisoner of war Jessica Lynch has signed a $1 million agreement with Alfred A. Knopf, giving the injured former private the chance to tell her own story, the publisher said yesterday.
The publisher said the book, I Am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story, will be written by former New York Times reporter Rick Bragg.
Sources familiar with the book said it will tell the tale of a small-town girl who goes to war and becomes a national hero, recognition she does not feel she deserves.
Sources at Knopf said the publisher will pay $1 million to Bragg and the Lynch family. Bragg will be paid a flat fee for producing the book while the Lynch family will receive part of the advance and all of the royalties.
"I have been heartened by the hope and faith of the American people and by the tireless effort of the US armed forces," Ms Lynch said in a statement issued by the publisher.
Ms Lynch said many Americans had written offering their support to her.
"I feel I owe them all this story, which will be about more than a girl going off to war and fighting alongside her fellow soldiers," she said.
Ms Lynch was granted an honourable military discharge last week due to her injuries. An army private, she became a symbol of American patriotism during the war, which generated controversy as accounts of her rescue in Iraq varied.
The 20-year-old supply clerk was captured by Iraqi forces on March 23 near the city of Nassiriya. Eleven other US soldiers were killed and nine wounded in the incident. - (Reuters)