2 Shocking, Sad, but Inspiring Books

A STOLEN LIFE - Jaycee Dugard (273 pages)

c. 2011  Wow! What a story! This is the memoir of a young lady who was kidnapped when she was eleven and was kept as a sex-slave by a pervert and his enabler wife for eighteen years. During that time she gave birth to two daughters, the first when she was only 14.  The babies were delivered by her rapist and raised to call him and his wife Dad and Mom, and their real mother “sister.” (I don’t think I’m giving anything away here, because this case was widely reported in the news when the young woman and her children were later discovered and rescued.)

           I can’t write this review without warning more sensitive readers of the explicit nature of Jaycee’s recollections of her abuse. It is very hard to read or even imagine! It’s a tale of survival, but also an example of how one sick-o person can manipulate and control the lives of those around him. And lastly, it’s a plea from Jaycee herself: that if something going on in a family (even if it’s your own) doesn’t look right to you, don’t hesitate for even a minute to report it to authorities. 

RANCH OF DREAMS - Cleveland Amory (280 large-print pages)

c. 1997   It says on the front cover that this is a “Heartwarming Story of America’s Most Unusual Animal Sanctuary.”  I found it to be a heartwrenching story.  It blows my mind how cruel people can be to animals. I’m glad there are people like Cleveland Amory who rescue abused and unwanted animals and give them a loving home.

           The author’s favorite book as a child was Black Beauty. He was even related to the man who brought the beloved horse story, by British author Anna Sewell, to America and made it popular in this country. It was his childhood dream to have a ranch someday where mistreated and unwanted animals could live out their lives in peace.

           Amory, a television critic for TV Guide in the  60s and 70s, established the animal rights group Fund for Animals in 1967. In 1979 he started Black Beauty Ranch in east Texas, and his first animal residents were feral burros rescued from the Grand Canyon.  It’s the largest and most unusual animal refuge in America, but it’s not a zoo or tourist attraction. It’s open to the public on special occasions, but most of the time it is just a home for animals to be cared for, not looked at.

           The book details the horrific offenses and the legal struggles he often had with the federal government and the many different missions he went on to rescue both domestic and exotic animals. Mr. Amory died in 1998 at the age of 81. The animal world lost a devoted friend and advocate with his passing.