In the summer of 1969, Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel carried out horrific acts of butchery on the orders of the charismatic cult leader Charles Manson. At their murder trial the following year, lead prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi described the two so-called Manson Women as ohuman monsters.o But to anyone who knew them growing up, they were bright, promising girls, seemingly incapable of such an unfathomable crime.
Award-winning journalist Nikki Meredith began visiting Van Houtenaand Krenwinkelain prison to discover how they had changed during their incarceration. The more Meredithagot to know them, the more she was lured into a deeper dilemma- What compels onormalo people to do unspeakable things?
The author's relationship with her subjects provides aachilling lens through which we gain insight into a particular kind of woman capable of a particular kind of brutality.aThrough their stories, Nikki Meredith takes readers on a dark journey into the very heart of evil.
