Tiger, Tiger

A “shocking, revelatory, and fearless” memoir of abuse and survival: “As the story of a victim, it is gripping; as a work of literature, it’s a triumph” (Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones).

A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book for 2011

A Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011 Title

One summer day, Margaux Fragoso makes a new friend at the neighborhood swimming pool. She is seven; Peter Curran is fifty-one. He then invites her and her mother to his house, a child’s paradise of exotic pets and an elaborate backyard garden. Margaux’s mentally ill mother is grateful for the attention Peter lavishes on her, and he creates an imaginative universe for her, much as Lewis Carroll did for his real-life Alice.

In time, he insidiously takes on the role of Margaux’s playmate, father, and lover. Charming and manipulative, Peter burrows into every aspect of Margaux’s life and transforms her from a child fizzing with imagination and affection into a brainwashed young woman on the verge of suicide. But when she is twenty-two, it is Peter—ill, and wracked with guilt—who kills himself, at the age of sixty-six.

Told with lyricism, depth, and mesmerizing clarity, Tiger, Tiger vividly illustrates the healing power of memory and disclosure. This extraordinary memoir is an unprecedented glimpse into the psyche of a young girl in free fall and conveys to readers—including parents and survivors of abuse—just how completely a pedophile enchants his victim and binds her to him.