"The Lovely Shall be Choosers" is the title of a Robert Frost poem that tells of the unhappy life of a woman born beautiful. Kidnapped Twice is a somewhat similar story, a memoir of a woman born both well-off and pretty, whose traumatic early life so shaped what came afterward that only her exceptional strength of character saved her. Now nearly bankrupt, living on a farm under challenging conditions, she nonetheless perseveres, doing what needs to be done, enjoying her cats and her wildlife, keeping afloat so far. If "the unexamined life is not worth living," then examining where one has...