A Ghostwriter Steps Forward

After Virginia Giuffre died by suicide, seven months before the October publication of her memoir Nobody's Girl, her ghostwriter has emerged from the shadows to become the voice of the book.  

Ghostwriter and journalist Amy Wallace had spent four years collaborating with Giuffre to produce the book, which details Giuffre’s horrific abuse by Jeffrey Epstein, Prince Andrew, Ghislaine Maxwell, and others.

Now Wallace has shouldered the responsibility of ensuring that the world doesn’t forget Giuffre, as well as the countless other girls caught in Epstein’s web of exploitation.

“I’m honored to be able to speak up for her,” Wallace told the New York Times. “It’s just, I wish she were doing the interviews—and that she was here.”

It’s a role no ghost would ever want, especially since we tend to get close to the authors we work with. The relationship is hard to describe, but it’s an oddly intimate one: a mix of collaborator, friend, therapist, business partner, muse, and occasional nag. I am still in touch with all the authors I’ve worked with over 25 years. We shared an extraordinary creative experience, and they will always be special people to me.

For all those reasons, Giuffre's death must have devastated Wallace. But she has taken up Giuffre's cause with grace and conviction.