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Nobody's Property: Living on the Remains of a Life in California

Gelesen von Emily Kathleen Cooke

November 4, 1971
Jennifer Rose Cooke, a girl from California, just turned 18, goes missing in a frigid forest in West Germany. She has been hitchhiking. First she caught a ride with a trucker, then with a West German soldier. Maybe she was trying to visit a young professor she had met on the boat over from New York. On that trip, he had heard her say she might throw herself overboard.

April 28, 1972
Another girl, just turned three, lives with her parents in a house in Laurel Canyon that lets the California rain in. Her biggest fear is of the brown snails in the garden; she will not cross the brick path if one is there. It is her father's twenty-sixth birthday; on this day his sister Jenny's remains are found. Officially, she died "of exposure," although a murder investigation is begun and the file remains permanently open.

This is the tale of a relationship only half lived. I have no memories of my Aunt Jenny as a living person. For all of my younger years I knew her only as someone who had died, and the only lessons her story held for me were about death and the probability that the worst would happen. Then I began to write about her. This was the next logical step since for me she was pure story already. While I started trying to find the truth of what had happened to her, I began to see that each person in my family had a different version of the story that suited their particular worldview and satisfied their particular needs. I was no different.

In a sense, Jenny's story has become the instrument that I'm singing along to--singing about a childhood in gorgeous 1970s-era L.A., about a friendly divorce; about the changing California landscape, its violent beauty; about traveling with my dad to try to get closer to what happened; and about getting to know something about a living girl who, it turns out, preferred to be called "Rose," not Jenny.

I've left Rose alone for a few years, but now we're traveling together again.


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License

Chapters

Nobody's Property 01

Read by Emily Kathleen Cooke

Nobody's Property 02

Read by Emily Kathleen Cooke

Nobody's Property 03

Read by Emily Kathleen Cooke

Nobody's Property 04

Read by Emily Kathleen Cooke

Nobody's Property 05

Read by Emily Kathleen Cooke

Nobody's Property 06

Read by Emily Kathleen Cooke

Nobody's Property 07

Read by Emily Kathleen Cooke

Nobody's Property 08

Read by Emily Kathleen Cooke

Nobody's Property 09

Read by Emily Kathleen Cooke

Nobody's Property 10

Read by Emily Kathleen Cooke

Nobody's Property 11

Read by Emily Kathleen Cooke

Nobody's Property 12

Read by Emily Kathleen Cooke

Nobody's Property 13

Read by Emily Kathleen Cooke

Nobody's Property 14

Read by Emily Kathleen Cooke

Nobody's Property 15

Read by Emily Kathleen Cooke

Bewertungen

(0 Sterne)

Oh please, please, please contact me. This is just incredible. I am 59, have struggled through the past 40 years wishing I could see her again -- my Rose -- and we could ramble along together. When we were together, connecting and understanding together, everything was good. I want to ...

(0 Sterne)

This story grabbed my attention right from the beginning. With the intimacy of the story, I began to feel like I had a genuine personal relationship with the family. This book is well written and read by the author. There are many profound thoughts and observations appearing throughout the story. ...

(0 Sterne)

Abbie, you made my morning! Thank you for your thoughtful comments and questions. I find this is a story that just doesn't end for me. I guess the central struggle comes from wanting to free myself and let go, and on the other hand wanting to know about Jenny/Rose as ...

(0 Sterne)

My contacts were wiped when my phone died.Can you call me? Send me an email and I'll send back my phone number.

(0 Sterne)

Jenny, I'm so glad we connected.... Em