I love true crime but I haven’t actually read a great deal about the Manson murders do I found this book really fascinating. It’s a different perspective from inside the ‘family’ and is thus incredibly compelling. Highly recommend if you enjoy true crime at all!

I can't get enough of books on the Manson Family and this one was great. Truthful and compelling. As long as these books come out I'll keep on reading them

Being a full blown 'murderino' and lover of true crime I was already familiar with the case of Charles Manson, desperate to here another point of view I jumped at the chance to read this. I am so glad I did. Dianne is a fantastic storyteller, I say storyteller because that is how the book read, like a story and nothing like the cold, fact-driven true crime I am used to reading. It was horrifying and yet touching.
I would recommend to anyone, this is not your usual non-fiction, it offers a true picture of not only the crime but the build-up, aftermath and feel of the time.
Definitely one of my favourites reads of the year.

I knew little about the Manson murders until Emma Clines' The Girls - here Lake tells her story of being drawn into the Manson 'cult' as a young girl. Brought up by a 'hippie' couple who drop out, sell their home and take their 3 kids to live in a converted bread van, Dianne is neglected and abandoned and given no sense of security or morality: she's introduced to drugs by her father, is soon having under-age sex, and essentially exiled from her family.

There's little here about the infamous murders since Lake is very much on the sidelines, but the dark side of flower power is shocking. Riveting reading.