Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was held captive in California for 18 years by a convicted sex offender, will write a new memoir, five years after her book about her life in captivity was published.
Simon & Schuster announced the book today, which follows the 2011 best-seller A Stolen Life. In Freedom: My Book of Firsts, Dugard, now 35, recounts her experiences getting acclimated to normal life.
“There is life after something tragic happens,” Dugard said in a statement. “Life doesn’t have to end if you don’t want it to. It’s all in how you look at it. Somehow, I still believe that we each hold the key to our own happiness and you have to grab it where you can in whatever form it might take.”
As The Associated Press notes, Dugard was only 11 years old when she was captured by Phillip and Nancy Garrido in South Lake Tahoe, California. She was raped and had two daughters while in captivity. She was not rescued until 2009. Her book about the ordeal sold 1.5 million copies.
“Jaycee Dugard is a remarkable woman,” Simon & Schuster publisher Jonathan Karp said. “Her strength has been an inspiration to millions, and her story is a remarkable example of resilience and spirit. Readers of this book will gain a new appreciation of how joyful freedom can be.”
Freedom will be released on July 12 in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and India.