The Cave: A Secret Underground Hospital and One Woman's Story of Survival in Syria

Amani Ballour

This searing memoir tells the story of a young doctor and activist who ran an underground hospital in Damascus, humanizing the enduring crisis in Syria.

Simply put, there is no one in Syria with a story like Dr. Amani Ballour. The only woman to have ever run a wartime hospital, she saved her peers from the atrocities of war while contending with the patriarchal conservatism around her. 

Growing up in Assad’s Syria, Ballour knew she wanted to be more than a housewife, even as her siblings were married off in their teens. As the revolution unfolded, she volunteered at a local clinic and was thrown into the deep end of emergency medicine, where she found her voice. 

Among the facets of this powerful  Becoming a hospital director. Shielding children from a horrific sarin attack. Losing colleagues. Attempting to employ more women. Abandoning the hospital. Becoming a refugee. Moving forward.   

Amani Ballour is a game changer who, like Malala Yousafzai, will be remembered as one of history’s great heroines. Growing up in a closely confined society, she dared to dream—first of an education, then of a career—that allowed her to make her mark on the world and protect the country she loves. A passionately committed humanitarian, she is determined that others will escape the horrors she survived.