Lee Woodruff

In January 2006, the Woodruffs seemed to have it all—a happy marriage and four beautiful children. Lee was a public relations executive and Bob had just been named co-anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight. Then, while Bob was embedded with the military in Iraq, an improvised explosive device went off near the tank he was riding in. He and his cameraman were hit, and Bob suffered a traumatic brain injury that nearly killed him.

In an Instant is the frank and compelling account of how Bob and Lee’s lives came together, were blown apart, and then were miraculously put together again— and how they persevered, with grit but also with humor, through intense trauma and fear.

REVIEWS

“Extraordinary . . . All sorts of themes thread their way through this frank, inspiring book: courage in the face of adversity; the pursuit of career at the expense of family; the bravery of foreign correspondents; the fortitude of female friendship. . . .Woodruff’s survival story comforts.”
— The Seattle Times

“Both Woodruffs [shoot] from the hip, writing with candor about their ordeal and describing it with an intimacy that couldn’t be captured on camera. . . . Their frankness heightens the book’s impact.”
— The New York Times

“Gripping . . . The Woodruffs’ devotion to each other is palpable. . . . [In An Instant is] a remarkably lucid, even engrossing story of . . . Bob Woodruff’s recovery, interwoven with tales from his marriage and family life.”           
— San Jose Mercury News

“A testimony to the power of the human spirit, to the catharsis of love and to infinite hope.”
— The Oklahoman