A Stolen Life: A Memoir

A Stolen Life: A Memoir (July 2011) is the story of the abduction and captivity of author Jaycee Lee Dugard when she was 11 years old. Dugard is not a professional author and declined to use a ghostwriter to tell her story of abuse and survival. Her memoir became a New York Times bestseller and was followed by a sequel entitled Freedom: My Book of Firsts (2016).

Shortly after her release from her captors in August 2009, Jaycee Dugard drew national media attention and appeared on the October 14, 2009, cover of People magazine. She was subsequently interviewed twice by Diane Sawyer, and a documentary entitled The Abduction of Jaycee Dugard (2010) became a made-for-TV movie in 2010.

Because of the failure of California authorities to properly supervise known sex offender Phillip Garrido, Dugard sued the state for damages and won a settlement of $20,000,000. She used the funds to establish the JAYC Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps abuse and trauma survivors by tailoring therapy programs for individuals and families.

A Stolen Life is a nonfiction memoir categorized as Abuse Self Help and True Crime. It is intended for adult readers. Because of the graphic description of Dugard’s ordeal, the material may be inappropriate for sensitive readers. This study guide and all its page citations are based on the Kindle edition of the book.

Dugard’s memoir covers the period from her abduction in 1991, when she was 11 years old, to her eventual rescue in 2009, when she was 29. Her story is told using first-person narration from her viewpoint as a child at the time the events in her story occurred. She intersperses a chronological narrative with random thoughts related to the experience she is describing in any given chapter. She also incorporates photos and journal entries into the memoir. Her story begins in Lake Tahoe, California, where Dugard’s family was living at the time of her kidnapping. Most of the subsequent activity occurs in the large, hidden backyard of the Garrido home in Antioch, California.

A Stolen Life begins on the morning of Jaycee’s abduction as she is walking to a school bus stop. She is immobilized by a stun gun and stuffed into the back of a car owned by Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy. Jaycee is then transported to their home, but she is kept ignorant of her surroundings and systematically convinced by Garrido that there is no escape for her. She endures 18 years of sexual abuse by Phillip and gives birth to two daughters. During this time, she and her children will live in sheds or tents concealed from the rest of the world in the Garrido one-acre backlot. As Jaycee describes her ordeal and eventual rescue, she explores the themes of living in a sociopath’s world, the mental prison that prevented her escape, and the people and institutions that enabled her abuse.

Summary

On the morning of June 10, 1991, Jaycee Lee Dugard is walking to the Lake Tahoe school bus stop when she is accosted by a man in a car. He stops to ask directions but then attacks her with a stun gun. Immobilized, Jaycee is loaded into the back of the man’s vehicle, where his wife conceals her under a blanket. The couple then drives the child 175 miles away to their home in Antioch, California.

Jaycee’s clothing and belongings are immediately removed, and she is forced to take a shower with Phillip Garrido, who insists that she touch his genitals. She is then bundled off to a shed hidden at the back of the property, where she is handcuffed to prevent her escape.

Jaycee loses all track of time as days and nights blend together. Phillip arrives periodically to give her food and a bucket to use as a toilet because there is no plumbing in the shed. After a week of this routine, her captor rapes her for the first time, telling Jaycee that she is helping him with his sex problem. He explains that he hurt other people in the past, but he abducted her so that nobody else would get hurt.

Over time, Phillip moves Jaycee to another shed on the property and indulges in marathon sessions of methamphetamine use and sexual abuse that last for days. He calls these experiences “runs.” Over time, Jaycee gives birth to two daughters, which prompts Phillip to stop abusing her sexually. Because Jaycee has been so indoctrinated to believe that she is weak and helpless and that the outside world is a terrible place, she doesn’t try to escape. She lives in the backyard of the Garrido property for 18 years with her children, helping Phillip with his printing business and becoming friends with his wife, Nancy.

As Phillip grows more delusional, he is convinced that he is hearing the voices of demonic angels. He brings his theory to the attention of some FBI agents and the Berkeley campus police. They, in turn, become suspicious of his relationship with Jaycee and her daughters. When Phillip and Nancy Garrido are arrested on August 26, 2009, he confesses to his crimes, and Jaycee is freed. She and her daughters reunite with her real family, and she begins the road to psychological recovery. Jaycee’s emotional resilience proves inspiring to others, and she establishes the JAYC Foundation to offer counseling and support for individuals and families that have survived abuse or trauma.