Wild Ride to Freedom: A Memoir of Childhood, Prison and Self-Discovery

by William McLellan

Who said finding yourself was easy? When a wild night out in Barcelona in 1972 ends in a savage police beating and imprisonment without trial in the notorious Modelo jail, 22-year-old William's dreams of becoming an artist lie in tatters.

Against all odds, his mind as broken as his body, William begins to find a way forward. The bars in the cell window are all too real, but so are the wisdom and kindness of his Zen cellmate. For the first time, he senses a way to be free - on the inside. He begins to face the demons of his past; the anger and nihilism that come from a childhood of poverty, violence and neglect. And he makes the first entries in the journal that changes his life forever. That journal became this book.

A Wild Ride to Freedom is the inspiring true story of one man's triumph over evil fate. And evil prison food.

364 pages, Paperback

First published May 14, 2015

Reviews

[Keren Ludlow]

I could hardly put it down. There are so many aspects to this memoir. The author is twenty two and in a Spanish prison in the early 1970’s. His description of life in jail, the fascinating characters he meets and his fragile mental state is interspersed with flashbacks to his shockingly difficult childhood. The book is illustrated with drawings from the journal he kept while inside. The ending is uplifting and moving.
Amazing story.

[Louise Armstrong]

It was OK, but perhaps a bit long or something. I found myself skipping scenes that were repetitions of scenes that had gone before.

I did feel for the child he was, and the adolescent pretending he was fine. A bad upbringing removes your capacity to think clearly, so no wonder he got into trouble. The good thing is that his art helped him think things through and become successful.