Is Bright Young Women based on a true story?
We answer your questions on the Richard and Judy book club pick. Is thriller Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll based on a true story?
Jessica Knoll’s ‘unflinching and evocative’ (Laura Dave) novel Bright Young Women is a compulsive, unsettling, brilliant read. We answer some of the questions we’ve had about the book.
What is Bright Young Women about?
Bright Young Women tells the story of two women brought together by horror and tragedy, and is based on real-life murders that occurred in America in the 1970s. Tina Cannon is trying to find out what happened to her friend Ruth, who disappeared in broad daylight from a crowded beach near Seattle. Pamela Schumacher is a survivor and the sole witness of a series of brutal attacks in her sorority house in Tallahassee, her life upturned by a crime that captivates public interest for more than four decades – and which Tina is convinced is related to Ruth’s disappearance.
Is Bright Young Women based on a true story?
Bright Young Women is inspired by real-life events and the women whose lives were changed, or taken, by the serial murderer Ted Bundy. However, although the locations and dates featured reflect real events, the characters and many of the details are fictionalised.
The novel’s title is based on a comment made to Bundy by the judge at his trial, who called him a "bright young man." Told from the perspective of the women, and critical of the police and press response to the killings, the book reframes the Bundy narrative, focusing on the women and their fight for survival and justice, rather than their ‘celebrity’ attacker.
Are the people in Bright Young Women real?
The locations and dates featured in Bright Young Women reflect real events but the characters are fictionalised.
Which serial killer is Bright Young Women based on?
Bright Young Women is inspired by the real-life sorority targeted by America’s first ‘celebrity’ serial killer, Ted Bundy. He is not named in the book.
Bright Young Women
In 1970s Tallahassee, sorority president Pamela Schumacher encounters a scene of brutal violence. Thus begins her involvement in a crime that grips the nation for decades. Meanwhile, in Seattle, Tina Cannon seeks answers to her best friend Ruth's sudden disappearance. Connecting Ruth's case to the Tallahassee tragedy, Tina journeys to Florida. Inspired by real events, Bright Young Women is a page-turning thriller that gives voice to the victims of America's first celebrity serial killer.
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