If you don't know about the Bobby Dunbar case, let me quickly explain. Bobby Dunbar was a little boy (4 yo) who disappeared while on holiday. Eight months later, 'Bobby' was found, but questions still lingered as to his identity.
And to make things more complicated, a woman named Julia Anderson appeared to claim that the little boy is her son, Bruce Anderson. This claim is corroborated by none other than the 'kidnapper' himself. It resulted in an ugly court battle that was won by the Dunbars but (spoiler alert!) DNA testing many many years later showed that this boy wasn't actually Bobby Dunbar at all.
To be honest, I sort of expected that, but purely because out of the two 'mothers', I preferred Julia Anderson. True, the Dunbars did seem to have the means to keep him (and they certainly seemed to love him), but the underhand way they treated Julia Anderson when she tried to identify her son left a sour taste in my mouth. I get that they didn't want to lose their 'son', but they really went overboard.
Plus, the whole rich vs poor thing makes Julia the underdog in my eyes.
Even though this book is extremely detailed (and fairly thick), I devoured it. I like the writing style, and I'm really glad that Bobby Duncan/Bruce Anderson ended up having a good life in spite of his messy childhood.
The title is definitely apt, and if you're interested in this case, or just looking for a good nonfiction book to read, I'd definitely recommend this one!
Well... That makes two of us; I hadn't heard of this case before either.
ReplyDeleteWhew, at least I'm not the only one!
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