Before reading this, I had a vague recollection of what Charles Manson and his "Family" had done but this book really dives into who two of his women were (and are now) and it was super interesting. The author is a journalist who decided to get to know Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkle (sidenote I JUST understood a random Gilmore Girls reference because of this book.... Amy and Dan Sherman-Palladino are brilliant) after she discovered she couldn't officially interview them. She wrote them letters and met them for visits at the prison, interviewed other people involved, and followed their cases as they came up for parole repeatedly. She, being of similar age and background as the two, also reflected on and talks about her own life and how it compared to figure out why it was they got sucked into a cult and she didn't. So interesting and also makes you think about parole, people and how they change, life sentences, etc. etc. etc.