Author: Sarah Weinman
Publication Date: Sep. 11, 2018
Publisher: Ecco
Format: Audiobook
Started: Mar. 3, 2020
Finished: Mar. 3, 2020
Full title: The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World
Sally Horner was a 5th grader from New Jersey who was kidnapped by Frank La Salle, a child molester in 1948. Sally is repeatedly raped by La Salle before finally being returned home shy of 2 years later.
Horner had a difficult time returning to her normal life. When out on a date with a 20-year-old man who believed she was 17 when she was actually only 15 years old. The couple was involved in a car crash that took Horner's life. Sally Horner died at the age of 15 in August 1952.
I thought this book would be more about the Sally Horner kidnapping and less on the author of Lolita. This book is basically a love letter to the author while acknowledging that he used the horrors Horner went through without publicly admitting he had done so. When the case is compared to Sally Horner's kidnapping it is obvious that the author of Lolita blatantly used her abuse to his financial advantage.