Member of the Family Manson, Murder and Me

"In late 1967, fourteen-year-old Dianne Lake became one of "Charlie's girls," a devoted acolyte of cult leader Charles Manson and member of his Family. Joining the group with little more than an old note from her hippie parents granting her permission to leave them, the two years that followed were a mixture of sexual manipulation, psychological control, and physical abuse, as the harsh realities and looming darkness of Charles Manson's true nature revealed themselves to the impressionable teenager. Though Dianne never participated in any of the group's gruesome crimes, as one of its longest members, she lived through it all, becoming a crucial eyewitness to the Family's descent into madness and ultimately providing critical testimony against Manson and his collaborators that helped put them behind bars--for life ... Drawing upon never-before-told stories, Dianne delivers an inside account of how Manson's paranoid volatility grew over time, mixing dangerously with his con-artist sensibilities and fondness for using physical violence to poison the group, culminating in the final chaotic months before the horrific Tate-LaBianca murders brought the idealism of the 1960s to a stunning conclusion. And yet, in spite of her painful experiences, Dianne was one of the few to emerge stronger from the torment of the Family. With the help of the California police officer and his welcoming family who took her in as a foster child following her arrest, Dianne was able to transform her trauma into triumph, finding the courage to face Manson in court and achieving a redemption that allowed her to heal"--