True Crime Obsessed

In 2000, the novel “Sarah” was published. It was written by a homeless teenaged hustler named JT LeRoy. Nobody had ever met him—his only correspondence with press and publishers was over the phone or fax machine—and still he became the literary sensation of the time. He was dubbed a ‘wunderkind,’ an ‘it boy’ and ‘the literary voice of his generation.’ He became a best-selling author and sold the film rights to his books. The only thing was, he didn’t actually exist. On January 9, 2006 The New York Times sent shockwaves through the literary world when it unmasked JT LeRoy, whose tough prose about a sordid childhood had captivated icons and luminaries internationally. It turned out that he was the creative expression of 40-year-old San Francisco former phone-sex operator turned housewife, Laura Albert. Author: The JT LeRoy Story takes us down the infinitely fascinating rabbit hole of how Laura Albert--like a Cyrano de Bergerac on steroids--breathed not only words, but life, into her avatar for a decade. Albert'