Reared by Wolves

"I have been asked, repeatedly, as if by design I wrote this book, why I decided to write it. The reasons for me to write it were not mine, but yours: you encouraged me to write down what I only wanted to forget. The stories within, then, are not mine, but ours."
Richard Zia Reared by Wolves is a classical story of a child twisting in the wind; the synthesis of survival instinct, do-or-die nerve, plain luck, and an intractable stubbornness keep him one step ahead of a forecasted disastrous outcome before he reaches age eighteen. Young Richard seeks freedom, a day free, a life free, of beatings, starvation and imprisonment and sexual exploitation. Richard runs, hides, and fights to stay alive just one more day as a second-class citizen in the freest country in the world: The United States of America. Reared by Wolves illustrates the road to destruction in a society where many children are treated as unwanted dogs who just won't die, where adults are waking monsters who won't disappear with the rising sun, the time when nightmares are supposed to end. It is both memoir and a bill of indictment of our child welfare and juvenile justice systems, as well as a cautionary tale and rebuke of the dank underbelly of foster-care. Lastly, Reared by Wolves is an homage to the unexpected, abiding decency in so many random people, for without their compassion and bravery the realization of any happiness at all in this life would be impossible.