The Girls
EMMA CLINE

I will start with a confession. I don’t like fiction based on fact. I find myself thinking that the writer lacks the ­imagina­tion to create an original story. I have another confession. I find fiction based on real-life grisly murders distasteful.

So, it’s with some surprise that I discovered that I like The Girls by Emma Cline very much. It’s based on Charlie Manson’s “family” and follows one young girl’s initiation into – and escape from – his murderous cult.