Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir recounts abuse by Epstein, Maxwell and others

NPR's Book of the Day

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Arts, Books

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 21 October 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

Today’s episode centers an important voice in the still-unfolding story of Jeffrey Epstein. Virginia Roberts Giuffre survived abuse at the hands of Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and a number of powerful men. Giuffre died by suicide earlier this year. But before her death, she wrote a memoir called Nobody’s Girl. In today’s interview with NPR’s Leila Fadel, Giuffre’s collaborator on the project, Amy Wallace, and her brother, Sky Roberts, share what it was like for Giuffre to write about what she endured.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Chloe Weiner. Today's interview centers an important voice
0:08.0	in the still unfolding story of Jeffrey Epstein. Virginia Roberts Joufrey was one survivor of abuse
0:14.4	at the hands of Gieland Maxwell, Epstein, and a number of other powerful men. She died by suicide
0:20.4	at age 41 earlier this year. But before
0:23.7	her death, she wrote a memoir called Nobody's Girl. In today's interview with NPR's Lila Faddle,
0:30.0	Joufrey's collaborator on the project, Amy Wallace, and her brother, Sky Roberts, share what it was
0:35.4	like for Joufrey to write in detail about what she went through.
0:39.2	But they also talk about how her story resonates beyond the subject of sexual abuse.
0:43.9	That's ahead.
0:45.4	This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe.
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0:55.8	Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com. T's and C's Apply.
1:01.2	This message comes from the Dateline original podcast, Deadly Engagement. Join Josh Mankowitz as he tells a twisted story of sex, lies, and betrayal that will keep you guessing until the very end.
1:12.6	Search deadly engagement to follow now.
1:15.6	There's a famous picture that most of the world would recognize. It's of now disgraced Prince Andrew
1:21.7	with his hand around the waist of a teen girl in a pink top in jeans. That was Virginia Roberts
1:27.4	Joufrey. As an adult, she was one of the most
1:30.4	outspoken survivors of abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein and convicted sex offender,
1:36.0	Gieland Maxwell. Prince Andrew was one of many powerful men that Jufre says she was trafficked to by the
1:42.2	wealthy pair. On Friday, Buckingham Palace released a statement from Prince Andrew. It said he had given up his title as Duke of York amid fresh scrutiny of the allegations, which he has consistently denied. Virginia wrote about this and all she endured in a book called Nobody's Girl. But before it was published, she died by suicide in the spring.
2:02.7	I spoke to Amy Wallace, her collaborator on the book, along with her brother, Sky Roberts,
2:07.6	and a warning sexual abuse and suicide come up in our conversation. The book opens with the
	...

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