Dianne 'Snake' Lake reveals the true account of her years with the Manson family, detailing for the first time how she came to join the Family at age 14 and revealing new information about Charles Manson and life as one of his "girls."
### A poignant and compelling memoir of survival, MEMBER OF THE FAMILY (Morrow, on sale 10/24/2017, on sale 9780062695574, $27.99) is Dianne Lake's disturbing and powerful testament of her time with one of the 20th Century's most notorious criminal figures: Charles Manson.
At age fourteen Dianne Lake-with little more than an old note in her pocket from her hippie parents granting her permission to leave them-became one of "Charlie's girls," a devoted acolyte of cult leader Charles Manson. Over the course of two years, the impressionable teenager endured manipulation, psychological control, and physical and sexual abuse as the harsh realities of Charles Manson's true nature revealed themselves. From Spahn Ranch and the group orgies and acid trips, to the Beatles' White Album and Manson's dangerous messiah-complex, Dianne tells the riveting story of the Family's descent into madness as she lived it.
In MEMBER OF THE FAMILY, Dianne Lake details how she was lured by one of the notorious cults of the 20th century after her parents, who were themselves members of the famous "Hog Farm" commune, were unwittingly complicit in bringing her to Manson's attention then acquiescing to her choice of joining Charlie's "Family." After a tumultuous upbringing with multiple, chaotic moves, Dianne found herself living out of an old bread truck that her father had transformed so that the Lake family could "drop out" and live life free from societal responsibilities. During this time the Lake family, Dianne's mother and father and two younger siblings, moved around Southern California and Dianne found herself longing for a place she belonged. So, when she walked into a party where two young women, Lynette Fromme and Patty Krenwinkel, singled her out and brought her to the lap of Charles Manson, Dianne finally felt like she had found her true Family.