My Favourite Manson Girl

Perfect for fans of THE GIRLS, this is a bittersweet, honest, and widely acclaimed coming-of-age novel that distills honest truths about American girlhood

Anna has had a miserable year. Everything feels wrong with her life. And rather than stay and face the mess, she steals a credit card and books herself a seat on the first flight out of town to Los Angeles, to crash with her sister. But soon after she lands, cold reality soon dawns on her: Hollywood isn't the escape she needs. She is trapped in a town full of lost souls and wannabes, with no friends, no cash and no return ticket.

When she's offered a job researching the murderous Manson girls for a dubious film, she reluctantly accepts - she needs the money. But soon enough, among the fake smiles and glitter-fuelled parties, things turn from strange, to dark, to dangerous . . .

This is not going to be the summer Anna had in mind.

MY FAVOURITE MANSON GIRL is a chilling story about being young, lost and female. This is a story about how girls disappear.

“In My Favorite Manson Girl , Alison Umminger gives us an unforgettable teen heroine - smart, observant, witty, and tough. Anna navigates family conflict, movie sets, and a seriously macabre research project with unsparing intelligence and humour skewering contemporary culture and adult hypocrisy in an edgy coming-of-age novel that will appeal to adult readers as well as teens. Anna's voice is as original as it is compelling - and ultimately it's moving, too, as we detect the vulnerability behind her bravado. Umminger's swift, razor-sharp prose makes this a fast-paced read, a lively and incisive treatment of teen-aged girlhood with seriously dark and provocative undertones.”

Two new novels explore the story of the Manson murders by shoving the ringleader to the side and putting the girls (and girlhood itself) at the center of the narrative: The much-discussed The Girls by Emma Cline, and the less-analyzed, though no less worthy, American Girls by Alison Umminger. Cline and Umminger take a crime that seems impossible to understand, and show the girls behind it being fueled by feelings that are all too familiar. - The Atlantic

Messy, honest, and unflinchingly real. I can't get this book out of my head. I don't want to get this book out of my head.

Funny, sad, often surprising, and just damned authentic. I know I won't be the only one who didn't want Anna's glittery-dark Hollywood summer to end. - Emily M. Danforth, author of The Miseducation of Cameron Post

An unforgettable teen heroine - smart, observant, witty, and tough . . . an edgy coming-of-age novel that will appeal to adult readers as well as teens. Anna's voice is as original as it is compelling - and ultimately it's moving, too, as we detect the vulnerability behind her bravado. Umminger's swift, razor-sharp prose makes this a fast-paced read, a lively and incisive treatment of teen-aged girlhood with seriously dark and provocative undertones. - Maggie Mitchell, author of Pretty Is

Alison Umminger grew up in Arlington, Virginia, and as an undergraduate was the fourth woman to be elected president of The Harvard Lampoon. Today, she is an associate professor at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, Georgia, where she lives with her husband, a blues musician, and their four-year-old daughter. My Favorite Manson Girl is her first book.

Perfect for fans of THE GIRLS , this is a bittersweet, honest, and widely acclaimed coming-of-age novel that distills honest truths about American girlhood Anna has had a miserable year. Everything feels wrong with her life. And rather than stay and face the mess, she steals a credit card and books herself a seat on the first flight out of town to Los Angeles, to crash with her sister. But soon after she lands, cold reality soon dawns on her: Hollywood isn't the escape she needs. She is trapped in a town full of lost souls and wannabes, with no friends, no cash and no return ticket.When she's offered a job researching the murderous Manson girls for a dubious film, she reluctantly accepts - she needs the money. But soon enough, among the fake smiles and glitter-fuelled parties, things turn from strange, to dark, to dangerous . . .This is not going to be the summer Anna had in mind. MY FAVOURITE MANSON GIRL is a chilling story about being young, lost and female. This is a story about how girls disappear.

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