Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date.
For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now.
Narrated by Ann Marie Lee
Emily WinslowUnabridged — 10 hours, 31 minutes
Narrated by Ann Marie Lee
Emily WinslowUnabridged — 10 hours, 31 minutes
Free with a B&N Audiobooks Subscription | Cancel Anytime
Already Subscribed?
Sign in to Your BN.com Account
FREE
with a B&N Audiobooks Subscription
In the vein of Alice Sebold's Lucky, comes a compelling, real-life crime mystery and gripping memoir of the cold case prosecution of a serial rapist, told by one of his victims.
On the morning of September 12, 2013, a fugitive task force broke down the door of Arthur Fryar's apartment in Brooklyn. His DNA, entered in the FBI's criminal database after a drug conviction, had been matched to evidence from a rape in Pennsylvania years earlier. Over the next year, Fryar and his lawyer fought his extradition and prosecution for the rape-and another like it-which occurred in 1992. The names of the victims, one from January, the other from November, were suppressed; the prosecution and the media referred to them as Jane Doe.
Now, Jane Doe January tells her story.
Emily Winslow was a young drama student at Carnegie Mellon University's elite conservatory in Pittsburgh when a man brutally attacked and raped her in January 1992. While the police's search for her rapist proved futile, Emily reclaimed her life. Over the course of the next two decades, she fell in love, married, had two children, and began writing mystery novels set in her new hometown of Cambridge, England. Then, in fall 2013, she received shocking news-the police had found her rapist.
This is her intimate memoir-the story of a woman's traumatic past catching up with her, in a country far from home, surrounded by people who have no idea what she's endured. Caught between past and present, and between two very different cultures, the inquisitive and restless crime novelist searches for clarity. Beginning her own investigation, she delves into Fryar's family and past, reconnects with the detectives of her case, and works with prosecutors in the months leading to trial.
As she recounts her long-term quest for closure, Winslow offers a heartbreakingly honest look at a vicious crime-and offers invaluable insights into the mind and heart of a victim.
Jane Doe January…chronicles in relentless detail the drama of the justice system's attempt to indict [Winslow's] rapist after matching DNA evidence is finally secured. Her story reveals a stark, maddening reality: that rape victims must often become their own legal advocates if they want an opportunity for retribution…Winslow channels her rage into this meticulously constructed and ultimately terrifying memoir.
★ 03/21/2016
With remarkable emotional insight and precision, mystery writer Winslow (The Red House) turns to memoir to narrate the long-delayed prosecution of the man who raped her two decades ago. When her case is reopened in 2013 by a DNA match in another case, Winslow navigates a bureaucratic nightmare of delays, observing that “waiting isn’t a sea that gradually approaches a beach; it’s a wet pit with vertical walls.” She probes the depths of rape victimhood and its social connotations, comparing expectations to “be a perfect little broken princess” with the reality of her situation. As a writer obsessed with details, Winslow researches her attacker, finding his dating site profiles and his sister’s Facebook page and noting that with each discovery he “keeps getting smaller... piece by piece.” Faced with reticent friends for whom there is “my world... and the world they live in, in which isn’t happening at all,” she develops surprisingly strong bonds with the detectives and legal team representing her case. When a personal tragedy is followed by a bombshell development in the case, Winslow must face dual griefs and seek out a new vision for closure. Her story is profoundly troubling, but the legitimate care and consideration of Winslow’s legal support system is powerfully redemptive. Her account bravely illuminates a process many survivors of rape must endure. (May)
With a shocking twist that rivals the best that fiction has to offer, this book is a triumph of heart over unbearable hurt. Everyone should read it.” — Sophie Hannah, author of The Monogram Murders
“In JANE DOE JANUARY, Emily Winslow has created a new genre. This book unwinds like a page-turning mystery novel while, with gut-wrenching perspective, it embodies the most elegant of personal journalism. I’ve never read anything like it.” — Julia Heaberlin, author of Black-Eyed Susans
“This factual, fascinating and forensically cool memoir lays out the legal process almost as a police procedural. Then each time Winslow puts aside her detachment to express rage, contempt, impatience, love and gratitude, the memoir takes on a devastating emotional white heat. JANE DOE JANUARY had me gripped and furious.” — Eliza Graham, author of The One I Was
“JANE DOE JANUARY should be required reading for any person who is in a position to interact with victims of crimes.” — Retired Commander Bill Valenta of the Pittsburgh Police, the original detective from the case
“JANE DOE JANUARY is an extraordinary memoir, written with the skill of a master novelist in beautiful, haunting prose. This story should prompt serious discussion and is one of the most important memoirs on sexual assault you will ever read. Her courage in telling it is breathtaking.” — Allison Leotta, author of A Good Killing and a former sex-crimes prosecutor for Washington DC
“A powerful memoir of survival from a great writer.” — Lisa Gardner, author of Crash and Burn
“This riveting, courageous story would be unbelievable if it weren’t so heartbreakingly true. Told in elegant-yet-unflinching style by a writer of considerable skill, JANE DOE JANUARY is one of the most compelling memoirs you will ever read.” — Brad Parks, author of The Fraud
“Winslow’s precision and clarity disallow us the easy exit of ‘I can’t imagine...’ You don’t have to imagine. She’s drawn an eloquent, exacting map of what it feels like to dangle on the whims of justice. Life is a finer thing when we understand.” — Jamie Mason, author of Monday's Lie
“The sheer bravery of the memoir alongside the lyrical writing style make it a compelling and ultimately uplifting read.” — Kate Rhodes, author of The Winter Foundlings
“Brilliant, gorgeously written, and utterly chilling.” — Carla Buckley, author of The Deepest Secret
“This important chronicle answers the question, does it serve justice to put a man on trial for a 20-year-old crime?...This eloquent memoir will be appreciated by anyone interested in cold case investigations and victim advocacy as well as true crime fans.” — Library Journal (starred review)
“With remarkable emotional insight and precision, mystery writer Winslow turns to memoir...Powerfully redemptive.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Urgently written with forthright prose, the memoir’s serpentine suspense elements resemble the plot points seen in the kind of crime fiction the author writes herself.... Potently rendered.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Winslow channels her rage into this meticulously constructed and ultimately terrifying memoir.” — New York Times Book Review
“Searingly honest, poetic, heartbreaking, yet ultimately uplifting.” — Menna van Praag, author of The Witches of Cambridge
“Winslow’s muscular, evocative, and achingly honest voice is unforgettable.” — Amanda Kyle Williams, author of Don't Talk to Strangers
In JANE DOE JANUARY, Emily Winslow has created a new genre. This book unwinds like a page-turning mystery novel while, with gut-wrenching perspective, it embodies the most elegant of personal journalism. I’ve never read anything like it.
JANE DOE JANUARY should be required reading for any person who is in a position to interact with victims of crimes.
JANE DOE JANUARY is an extraordinary memoir, written with the skill of a master novelist in beautiful, haunting prose. This story should prompt serious discussion and is one of the most important memoirs on sexual assault you will ever read. Her courage in telling it is breathtaking.
This factual, fascinating and forensically cool memoir lays out the legal process almost as a police procedural. Then each time Winslow puts aside her detachment to express rage, contempt, impatience, love and gratitude, the memoir takes on a devastating emotional white heat. JANE DOE JANUARY had me gripped and furious.
A powerful memoir of survival from a great writer.
Brilliant, gorgeously written, and utterly chilling.
This riveting, courageous story would be unbelievable if it weren’t so heartbreakingly true. Told in elegant-yet-unflinching style by a writer of considerable skill, JANE DOE JANUARY is one of the most compelling memoirs you will ever read.
With a shocking twist that rivals the best that fiction has to offer, this book is a triumph of heart over unbearable hurt. Everyone should read it.
Winslow’s precision and clarity disallow us the easy exit of ‘I can’t imagine...’ You don’t have to imagine. She’s drawn an eloquent, exacting map of what it feels like to dangle on the whims of justice. Life is a finer thing when we understand.
The sheer bravery of the memoir alongside the lyrical writing style make it a compelling and ultimately uplifting read.
Winslow channels her rage into this meticulously constructed and ultimately terrifying memoir.
Winslow’s muscular, evocative, and achingly honest voice is unforgettable.
Searingly honest, poetic, heartbreaking, yet ultimately uplifting.
★ 05/01/2016
In 1992, novelist Winslow (The Whole World) was a theater major at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, when she was raped in her apartment by an unknown assailant. The cold case opened again in 2013, when DNA evidence unexpectedly pointed to serial rapist Arthur Fryar, and a loophole in the statute of limitations allowed him to be prosecuted. Winslow, designated "Jane Doe January" in the court records, begins a diary of her thoughts about the assault, its aftermath, and the preparation for the trial that follows. An active participant in the prosecution taking place across the Atlantic (she lives in England), the author researches the suspect, contacts people involved in the original investigation, and maintains constant correspondence with the prosecutors. It is a long journey of starts and stops, delays, disappointments, and loss. Mostly, it is full of kind, helpful people whose refusal to give up heartens Winslow through the frustrating process. This important chronicle answers the question, does it serve justice to put a man on trial for a 20-year-old crime? For the victim, it absolutely does. VERDICT This eloquent memoir will be appreciated by anyone interested in cold case investigations and victim advocacy as well as true crime fans. [See Prepub Alert, 11/23/15.]—Deirdre Bray Root, MidPointe Lib. Syst., OH
2016-03-16
The story of a Pennsylvania serial rapist who stood trial two decades after his assault on the author. Mystery writer Winslow (The Red House, 2015) was a religiously chaste junior studying acting at Carnegie Mellon University in 1992 when she was violently raped in her apartment by Arthur Fryar. Police had few clues and little DNA to compare to the author's forensic evidence, so the investigation stagnated—though the victim prodded the revolving team of detectives to continue sleuthing throughout the ensuing years. Winslow arrestingly depicts the rape and its harrowing physical and psychological fallouts as well as the undermining effects on her adult life as she struggled to connect emotionally and romantically with men. Though Fryar attacked another girl later that same year, his DNA only entered the criminal justice network after a drug arrest in 2002. After constant prodding, cold case rape kit DNA was reintroduced into the system, and matches were found to provide sufficient evidence to prosecute Fryar in 2013, but Winslow's case remained unattributed to him. Her adult life as a married mother of two and an American expatriate living in "polite and formal and circumspect" Cambridge, England, was refocused on obsessively investigating Fryar herself and unearthing enough sound, actionable ties linking him to her assault. Winslow doggedly uncovered more about her rapist and prepared for a media-hyped trial with the aid of persistent investigators. Despite legal red tape—including Pennsylvania's statute of limitation laws, which can only be overturned with DNA evidence—Fryar emerged as the smug prime suspect. Urgently written with forthright prose, the memoir's serpentine suspense elements resemble the plot points seen in the kind of crime fiction the author writes herself. She doesn't skimp on the intimate details of the intimidating court case or the mettle necessary to endure what proved to be a winding, mentally challenging, and ultimately disappointing journey toward retribution. A potently rendered chronicle of rape and the clarity and closure achieved even when justice is only partially served.
| BN ID: | 2940173490490 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Publication date: | 05/24/2016 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
