and a mother who 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 survived.  A Stolen Life  is my story—in my own words, in my own way, exactly as I remember it."  - Jaycee Lee Dugard

In  A  Stolen Life,  Jaycee Lee Dugard spares no detail. Readers will witness her physical and psychological transformation from a scared child held against her will, to a woman who bears his children and runs a business with him until she is discovered.  This book is an exploration of her past, and as profound as this book is in its horrific detail, it is not a triumphant, feel-good story, other than her rescue.

Jaycee Lee Dugard was interviewed by Diane Sawyer on ABC, and viewers saw how warm and lovely this young lady is.  Her book,  A Stolen Life   is like that interview, but a hundred times warmer and more personal.

It is refreshing that this story is written by Jaycee Lee Dugard, and not someone else, or in conjunction with a co-author.  Much of  the book contains pages taken from the actual journal entries Jaycee Lee wrote while in her backyard prison.  In her journal entries she mentions her goals and plans for her future once she becomes free--and many of them she's actually doing.