Living with Conviction: A True Crime Memoir by Toby Dorr – Review by Julie Johnson

Living With Conviction: Unexpected Sisterhood, Healing, and Redemption in the Wake of Life-Altering Choices by Toby Dorr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What an interesting read!!! I am pretty sure I either watched the Lifetime movie “Jailbreak Lovers” or saw a featured story on Dateline as this did sound familiar to me.

In this memoir, Toby Dorr tells of her life as the “Dog Lady”…her volunteer program at the Lansing Correctional Center running an inmate dog training program. She meets many inmates but one really captured her attention. His name is John Manard and he escaped prison with Toby’s help. They spent 12 days out on the run before they were found and arrested. Toby became an overnight celebrity and had to learn to deal with the media through her various court appearances. She did a couple of years in prison for her antics and in this book, she tells about her time on the inside.

It was very enlightening to read about life on the inside of prison and even more so, how difficult it is to live outside of prison after being there awhile. Toby went through some very challenging times while incarcerated and lost of lot of family along the way for her decisions. This book is very difficult to read in terms of things that were experienced, both by Toby and by people she met along the way. It is also inspiring to see how she turned things around in some of the deepest, darkest moments of her life.

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