Overview

A highly unsettling blend of true crime and coming-of-age memoir-- The Stranger Beside Me meets Prep--that presents an intimate and thought-provoking portrait of girlhood within Manhattan's exclusive prep-school scene in the early 1990s, and a thoughtful meditation on adolescent obsession and the vulnerability of youth. Piper Weiss was fourteen years old when her middle-aged tennis coach, Gary Wilensky, one of New York City's most prestigious private instructors, killed himself after a failed attempt to kidnap one of his teenage students. In the aftermath, authorities discovered that this well-known figure among the Upper East Side tennis crowd was actually a frightening child predator who had built a secret torture chamber--a """"Cabin of Horrors""""--in his secluded rental in the Adirondacks. Before the shocking scandal broke, Piper had been thrilled to be one of """"Gary's Girls."""" """"Grandpa Gary,"""" as he was known among his students, was different from other adults--he treated Piper like a grown-up, taking her to dinners, engaging in long intimate conversations with her, and sending her special valentines. As reporters swarmed her private community in the wake of Wilensky's death, Piper learned that her mentor was a predator with a sordid history of child stalking and sexual fetish. But why did she still feel protective of Gary, and why was she disappointed that he hadn't chosen her? Now, twenty years later, Piper examines the event as both a teenage eyewitness and a dispassionate investigative reporter, hoping to understand and exorcise the childhood memories that haunt her to this day. Combining research, interviews, and personal records, You All Grow Up and Leave Me explores the psychological manipulation by child predators--their ability to charm their way into seemingly protected worlds--and the far-reaching effects their actions have on those who trust them most.

Full Product Details

9781538501818

Table of Contents

Reviews

""The author uses interviews, police reports, and her own hindsight to sort through memories that have disturbed her since adolescence. Haunting."" -- ""Library Journal"" ""There's a true-crime story at the heart of this memoir--and a deeply disturbing one at that. A haunting, evocative, and thoroughly immersive tale that details the thrill and terror of growing up. I loved it."" -- ""Alison Gaylin, author of If I Die Tonight"" ""Unflinching, rich, and revelatory, not just about its twin subjects--the true crime at the heart of the book and the wrenching coming-of-age story that surrounds it--but about the dangers, fragility and piercing beauty of girlhood itself."" -- ""Megan Abbott, author of You Will Know Me"" ""Weiss has crafted a dark and brooding yet brisk and eloquently written memoir...A bristling, harrowing journey into the life of a stalker and his unsuspecting victims."" -- ""Kirkus Reviews""

Author Information

Piper Weiss has served as editor in chief at Levo, editorial director for HelloGiggles, and features editor for the New York Daily News and Yahoo. She is the author of the book My Mom, Style Icon and has written for various publications, including Hazlitt, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Elle.com, and Refinery29. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. www.PiperWeiss.com Brittany Pressley has won several Earphones Awards as well as the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration in 2018. She has recorded over one hundred titles and has received several nominations for American Library Association's annual list of Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults. She is also an accomplished singer-songwriter and voice actress. Her voice can be heard on national and international TV and radio commercials as well as several animated series and video games. She is a graduate of Columbia University.

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