Girl A Life Lived in the Shadow of Roman Polanski

andlt;B andgt;In this searing and surprising memoir, Samantha Geimer, and#8220;the girland#8221; at the center of the infamous Roman Polanski sexual assault case, breaks a virtual thirty-five-year silence to tell her story and reflect on the events of that day and their lifelong repercussions.andlt;/Bandgt;andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;March 1977, Southern California. Roman Polanski drives a rented Mercedes along Mulholland Drive to Jack Nicholsonand#8217;s house. Sitting next to him is an aspiring actress, Samantha Geimer, recently arrived from York, Pennsylvania. She is thirteen years old. andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;The undisputed facts of what happened in the following hours appear in the court record: Polanski spent hours taking pictures of Samanthaand#8212;on a deck overlooking the Hollywood Hills, on a kitchen counter, topless in a Jacuzzi. Wine and Quaaludes were consumed, balance and innocence were lost, and a young girland#8217;s life was altered foreverand#8212;eternally cast as a background player in her own story.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;For months on end, the Polanski case dominated the media in the United States and abroad. But even with the extensive coverage, much about that dayand#8212;and the girl at the center of it alland#8212;remains a mystery. Just about everyone had an opinion about the renowned director and the girl he was accused of drugging and raping. Who was the predator? Who was the prey? Was the girl an innocent victim or a cunning Lolita artfully directed by her ambitious stage mother? How could the criminal justice system have failed all the parties concerned in such a spectacular fashion? Once Polanski fled the country, what became of Samantha, the young girl forever associated with one of Hollywoodand#8217;s most notorious episodes? Samantha, as much as Polanski, has been a fugitive since the events of that night more than thirty years ago.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt; Taking us far beyond the headlines, andlt;I andgt;The Girl andlt;/Iandgt;reveals a thirteen-year-old who was simultaneously wise beyond her years and yet terribly vulnerable. By telling her story in full for the first time, Samantha reclaims her identity, and indelibly proves that it is possible to move forward from victim to survivor, from confusion to certainty, from shame to strength.

and#8220;This book is a total surprise. After decades of hearing about and#8216;the Roman Polanski rape caseand#8217; via third-hand reporting and ossified assumptions, here is the startlingly fresh, personal account from the young woman who lived through it, only to be set upon by the American legal system. Witty, snarky -- but also precise and thoughtfully observant not only about herself but also the mores and culture of a very different time -- Samantha Geimer is a reflective guide as she humanely tells of a complex violation that hurt but didn't defeat her."

"Disarmingly honest and intensely personal, andlt;iandgt;The Girlandlt;/iandgt; is a fascinating memoir: the absence of self-pity and frankness with which it is told is as shocking as the story itself."

"Sex, youth, and power have always fueled Hollywood and, as this bookandlt;iandgt; andlt;/iandgt;proves, never with more combustible results than in the story of Roman and Samantha. andlt;iandgt;The Girlandlt;/iandgt; is a pleasure to read."

and#8220;An astonishingly well-written, engaging book that is admirably subtle in its depiction of eventsand#8230; Her prose is lucid and compelling. The memoir, which winds its way through the painful vilification of her mother by the press, and a spectacular failure of the legal system, is masterfully clear-eyed.and#8221;

"[Geimer] is able to channel the bewilderment she felt while in Mr. Polanskiand#8217;s company, and the terror that came later."

and#8220;Her explosive account... is at once a tabloidy page-turner, and a thoughtful memoir.and#8221;andlt;bandgt;andlt;/bandgt;

"A feisty, almost jaunty youand#8217;re not the boss of me account of a really awful thing and its long aftermath... The lively, pugnacious narrative voice manages to sound simultaneously like a provocative kid and a wised-up adult."

and#8220;[The Girl] might be the most important and valuable book of the century so farand#8230;an emotional rollercoasterand#8230;smart and articulateand#8230;.Geimer puts complicated thoughts out there, alongside her anger, not because sheand#8217;s too damaged to think clearly but because she canand#8217;t bear the worldand#8217;s oversimplificationand#8230;.Her voice is strong.and#8221;

"Disarmingly honest and intensely personal, The Girl is a fascinating memoir: the absence of self-pity and frankness with which it is told is as shocking as the story itself." Portia de Rossi, author of the New York Times bestseller Unbearable Lightness

"Sex, youth, and power have always fueled Hollywood and, as this book proves, never with more combustible results than in the story of Roman and Samantha. The Girl is a pleasure to read." Joe Eszterhas, New York Times bestselling author of American Rhapsody and Hollywood Animal

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Samantha Geimer is married and has three sons. She divides her time between Hawaii and Nevada.