Nobody's Girl - Virginia Roberts Giuffre

 

This is the autobiography of one of Epstein's many victims, who was abused before and after that episode in her life, so it is sure to be a depressing read, but I wanted to learn more about this horrific situation so I am giving this a go.

Right from the start, she details gruesome abuse from her family (denied, of course) to strangers pulling her off the street to outright kidnapping and trafficking. Sadly, as happens all too often, the abuse allegedly continued into her later life, although in the book she paints a picture of domestic bliss with a loving husband. That alone is a bit cringey if the reports of this relationship are true, and her co-author insists that there were multiple allegations against the husband, including police interventions, but Giuffre did not want that to downplay the story of Epstein's abuse.

It's a tale that repeats itself continuously - abuse at home which causes a child to rebel (she does the usual - drink, drugs, truancy) which causes the parents to put her into a correctional facility which continues the cycle and then she escapes from that and ends up on the street.

After many terrible escapades, she returns to her parents and her dad gets her a job at Mar-a-Lago and things are looking up, until she meets Ghislaine Maxwell. So many passages are grotesque and truly difficult to read as Virginia moves from one abuse to another, wanting to believe in people and ignoring red flags in her hopes for a better life. We are constantly reminded just how young she is and despite the evils she had lived through, she was still all too naive and innocent, as most people her age would be. Maxwell introduces her to Epstein under false and disgusting pretenses and the horror continues from there.

But at the same time, she was hob-knobbing with literal billionaires and living a lifestyle that most of us literally could never image. Of course, she didn't want this lifestyle and would never have agreed to it from the beginning, but its allure did help to keep her entangled in the web that Epstein and Maxwell had created.

Eventually, she does get away, gets married and moves to Australia but even there, Epstein and Maxwell eventually track her down and basically threaten her to keep quiet as they weather multiple lawsuits. Eventually, due to the lack of justice, she joins forces with lawyers on multiple lawsuits, but even at this point, she is not naming names for the most part. There are a couple - such as Prince Andrew - but she seems to go out of her way to keep the lid on bigger names, which she later, believably, says she does to avoid threats to her family. She does goes out of her way to indicate that she was not involved with Trump and didn't know anything about his dealings, despite all of the evidence against him - although it certainly could be true that she did not know about him specifically - unless this is one of the people she indicates that she is afraid of. 

Many years and many lawsuits later, there is still all too little justice to be seen for these victims, but Giuffre fought up until her death - by suicide after innumerable major health issues and estrangement from her husband and children. 

An appalling tale but one that certainly needs to be told, especially as so many of these specific abusers continue to live carefree lives. I, who have been extremely lucky in my life, found this difficult to read - I would not recommend it to anyone who has been a victim themselves.