A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard

‘A Stolen Life’ by Jaycee Dugard

In the summer of June of 1991, I was a normal kid. I did normal things. I had friends and a mother that loved me. I was just like you. Until the day my life was stolen.

For eighteen years I was a prisoner. I was an object for someone to use and abuse. For eighteen years I was not allowed to speak my own name. I became a mother and was forced to be a sister. For eighteen years I survived an impossible situation.

On August 26, 2009, I took my name back. My name is Jaycee Lee Dugard. I don’t think of myself as a victim, I simply survived an intolerable situation. A Stolen Life is my story—in my own words, in my own way, exactly as I remember it.

REVIEW

When given the title and description for this book at bookclub, I kind of went ‘Great, I hate true stories, not a book I would pick at all’. But that is the beauty of a bookclub, that each member throughout the year gets to choose a book for the whole group. You get to experience books that you would never have chosen yourself. I really didn’t think I would like this book at all and even expected not to finish it, but I loved it. When I finished I was like, ‘WOW’. This book is the most amazing story I have read of survival, love and hope. What an expiring young women Jaycee Lee Dugard is. I am so grateful that she shared her story. It is the saddest, yet inspiring true story I have read. (I have only read one other true story, which I found so disturbing that I said I would never read one ever again). I did cry throughout the whole book, how a beautiful little girl was stolen from her life and lived this horrible existence for 18 years. I love how most of this book was about survival and recovery and how she and her children have copied with being free. (Apart from the unwanted fame that is imprisoning them now).

After finishing this book, I looked up Jaycee Dugard on the internet and watched interviews with her as I found I really wanted to find out how she was getting on a few years on. She truly is amazing.

I would highly recommend but have the tissues on the ready, a very upsetting read.