A Stolen Life

Dugard makes it clear that Phillip and Nancy Garrido stole a good portion of her life from her. She was not allowed to grow up in any kind of normal way. She had to learn about puberty and sexual education not from her mother, but from a depraved pedophile who raped her. She didn't even know what 'rape' was until later in her life. When Dugard became pregnant, she didn't even know why she was gaining weight and having pains.

With respect to education, Dugard never experienced even a high school education (though she states she hoped to get her GED diploma at some point). Her writing during the time of her captivity reveals that lack of education. She had to scrounge around for knowledge from books, television, and eventually the Internet. When it came time for her children to have an education, Dugard made sure...