When she was just 11 years old, Jaycee Dugard was abducted
while walking to school. For the next 18 years, she was held captive in the ‘secret
backyard’ of Phillip Garrido for his sexual gratification, birthing two daughters
by the time she was 17 years old. Aided and abetted by his equally sick and
twisted wife, Nancy (who not only knew that her husband was raping a child in
their back yard but who also scouted girls for him), Garrido would
somehow manage to avoid the scrutiny of the parole officers and other members
of authority (he had previously been convicted of sexually assaulting a 14 year
old) who not only managed to never take more than a quick peek around his
property but also never thought to question the word of a convicted sex
offender about who the fuck the little girls living at his house were (it seems I still haven't calmed down a week after reading this). It would
eventually take him actually taking Jaycee and her two children into a parole
office with him for the authorities to realise the identities of the girls and
reunite Jaycee with her family.
Told in Jaycee’s own words, her story is not only harrowing
and heartbreaking but also astonishing for the quiet strength that enabled her to not only survive her 18 year ordeal but to emerge still hopeful for
her future and that of her children. Having had to educate herself in the years
of her captivity, Jaycee has a very simple writing style which really places you in the shoes of her 11 year old self, with the jumbled timeline and
interjections recreating her own childish confusion at what was and did happen
to her and enabling the reader to understand how her dependency on Garrido for
everything could make her afraid of his control being taken away.
While not an easy book to read, A Stolen Life is a very
powerful one, and one I don't think I’ll ever forget.
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