About this item
A riveting, inspirational true story of an incredibly resilient woman who broke professional barriers as a Dutch banker, was the sole survivor of Vietnam Airlines Flight 474, found love after the loss of her fiance, and continues to raise her autistic son, never wavering in her optimism. On the morning of November 14, 1992, Annette Herfkens, a top Dutch banker (and one of the few female international bond traders on Wall Street) , packed her luggage for a romantic getaway with her longtime fiance, Willem. At 6:25 that morning, Annette and Willem boarded the plane out of Ho Chi Minh City, with twenty-three other passengers and six crew members, excited to finally have a vacation together. Six minutes before landing, flying at speed of 300 miles per hour, the plane lost altitude and crashed along a mountain ridge in the jungle of Vietnam.
About the Author
THE AUTHORAnnette Herfkens was born in Venezuela to a Dutch family. She was raised in the Netherlands, where she studied law at Leiden University. After completing an internship in Santiago, Chile, she became a management trainee for ING Bank, eradicating professional barriers as the first female executive to be sent abroad by a Dutch bank. She was assigned first to New York, then to London and in 1989 accepted an offer from Banco Santander to help set up the Emerging Markets Department in Madrid. She went back to work just a few months after the airplane crash in 1992 and was promoted to Managing Director one year later. In 1996 she was appointed to Santander's office in New York City.By writing "Turbulence", Annette broke some barriers of her own: The book helped her finally share the spiritual ramifications of her experience and how she used intuition, focus and consciousness to guide her.She also writes and speaks about the gains that come with loss. She is an accidental expert in the field: Nine years after she lost her fiancé in the crash, her son was diagnosed with autism. Just as in the jungle, she focuses on the beauty of what is.Annette is currently living a hopeful life in New York City with her family.
