First published 2012
Tania Head becomes the face of 9/11 survival after claiming she crawled through carnage on the seventy-eighth floor of the burning south tower and lost her fiance in the north tower collapse. She transforms into a symbol of hope, leading the World Trade Center Survivors' Network and guiding politicians like Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg through Ground Zero tours. Tania uses her own money to fund healing events and speaks to schools and support groups across the country. Fellow survivors draw strength from her story of transcending such devastating loss. But filmmaker Angelo Guglielmo, once among her closest friends while documenting the Survivors' Network, discovers a shocking truth. None of Tania's account happened. She fabricated every detail of her September 11th experience. Fisher reveals how one woman's elaborate deception captivated a grieving nation and explores the psychology behind such an audacious quest for recognition and belonging.
Genres: biography, crime, non-fiction, 21st-century, deception
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Ground Zero, New York, World Trade Center
Period: September 11th
306 pages · Kindle Edition · Allen & Unwin
Content warnings: mental-illness