Jaycee Dugard Memoir 'A Stolen Life' Hits No. 1 on Amazon
The memoir of kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard, which provides an in-depth view of her horrific 18-year abduction ordeal, has gone straight to the top of the Amazon bestseller list on the first day of its release.
The book, A Stolen Life, gives a detailed account of Dugard’s despair and loneliness during her captivity. It also describes how Dugard came to depend on her kidnappers Phillip Garrido and wife Nancy.
Dugard was kidnapped in 1991 aged just 11 as she made her way to a school bus stop when Garrido shot her with a stun gun before dragging her into his car. She was not to be seen by her family again for 18 years.
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She was imprisoned with her two daughters, now 13 and 16, in the backyard of Garrido’s home in Antioch, California.
The book describes how Dugard, now 31, had to endure regular physical abuse from Garrido and how she managed to keep going despite repeatedly being raped by him.
During her captivity Dugard also went on to bear two children by her rapist kidnapper, and in her book she describes the emotions she went through during those difficult times. In the book she writes, “I would live in my own world.”
“Physical abuse was all I knew,” she explains.
The book also details how Garrido would take methamphetamines to prolong his ability to rape her. It also tells how he would tie her up and physically abuse her, only to later go into a depressive state begging for her forgiveness.
Telling of her imprisonment in almost complete solitary confinement she writes in her book: “With time I grew used to all kinds of things.”
In the build up to the book’s release Dugard gave a first television interview with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer on Sunday. That interview has now been confirmed as the most-watched summertime current affairs program for seven years, the Nielsen Company reported.
During the interview she became tearful as she spoke about the birth of her first daughter, who is now 14 years old.
“She came out and then I saw her. She was beautiful. I felt like I wasn't alone anymore. I had somebody who was mine," she told Sawyer.
Dugard was freed in 2009 after police officers became suspicious of Garrido on a university campus in California.
It later emerged that Garrido had previously been convicted of rape involving abduction, and was registered by police on the sex offenders list.
Following his arrest he was sentenced to 431 years in prison, and his wife Nancy was given 36 years of life in prison.
Dugard was given $20 million from the state of California as a settlement for their repeated mistakes in insufficiently monitoring Garrido.
