The Woman Who Wasn’t There

Advance praise for

THE WOMAN WHO WASN’T THERE

“I finished reading this book weeks ago, but I can’t put it down. It continues to haunt me, and it will you as well. A story impossible to believe . . . except it’s all true.”

—MEREDITH VIEIRA

“Alternately heartbreaking and horrifying,
The Woman Who Wasn’t There
is a compelling real-life mystery as disturbing as a psychological thriller. The depths of Tania Head’s deception hit me like a punch in the gut.”

—TERENCE WINTER,
creator and executive producer of
Boardwalk Empire

“Thought provoking, heart wrenching, and unbelievable. . . . Even knowing the outcome, I could not put the book down, awed by the stunning impact of one woman on so many lives.”

—MARIAN FONTANA,
author of the
New York Times
bestseller
A Widow’s Walk

“Not since Professor Harold Hill in
The Music Man
has a con been portrayed in such an empathetic and yet unsparing manner. At the end of Fisher and Guglielmo’s masterfully nuanced portrait, Tania Head’s deception of the survivors becomes understandable—even as it remains unforgivable—as a remarkable outgrowth of the capacity of the human psyche to deceive others by deceiving itself first.”

—JOHN J. FARMER, JR.,
dean of Rutgers Law School–Newark and author of
The Ground Truth: The Untold Story of America Under Attack on 9/11

“Taut and riveting as a mystery novel, except that it’s all true. The tale of Tania Head, the ‘celebrity survivor,’ is a fascinating psychological study of the best and worst of human nature. In their deft, compelling narrative, Robin Gaby Fisher and Angelo J. Guglielmo, Jr., slowly but inexorably lift the curtain on one of the saddest, most senseless, and yet most spectacular frauds in recent history. You will not be able to put this book down until you finish the last sentence, and when you do, you will shake your head in wonder.”

—AMY ELLIS NUTT,
author of
Shadows Bright as Glass
and Pulitzer Prize–winning writer for the
Star-Ledger

“To behold (Tania) Head’s smile is to know the terrorists did not come even close to winning. To see that smile is also to be challenged to be as decent and positive as this true survivor.”

—New York Daily News,
September 7, 2006

I
t was a tale of loss and recovery, of courage and sorrow, of horror and inspiration. Tania Head’s astonishing account of her experience on September 11, 2001—from crawling through the carnage and chaos to escaping the seventy-eighth-floor sky lobby of the burning south tower to losing her fiancé in the collapsed north tower—transformed her into one of the great victims and heroes of that tragic day.

Tania selflessly took on the responsibility of giving a voice and a direction to the burgeoning World Trade Center Survivors’ Network, helping save the “Survivors’ Stairway” and leading tours at Ground Zero, including taking then-governor Pataki, Mayor Bloomberg, and former mayor Giuliani on the inaugural tour of the WTC site. She even used her own assets to fund charitable events to help survivors heal. But there was something very wrong with Tania’s story—a terrible secret that would break the hearts and challenge the faith of all those she claimed to champion.

Told with the unique insider perspective and authority of Angelo J. Guglielmo, Jr., a filmmaker shooting a documentary on the efforts of the Survivors’ Network, and previously one of Tania’s closest friends,
The Woman Who Wasn’t There
is the story of one of the most audacious and bewildering quests for acclaim in recent memory—one that poses fascinating questions about the essence of morality and the human need for connection at any cost.

ROBIN GABY FISHER
is the author of the
New York Times
bestseller
After the Fire
. She is a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing and a member of a Pulitzer Prize–winning team. She teaches narrative journalism at Rutgers University.

ANGELO J. GUGLIELMO, JR.,
is the award-winning director of the documentary
The Woman Who Wasn’t There,
produced by Meredith Vieira Productions. He has made the acclaimed films
Idling Brando
and
The Heart of Steel
and has written the screenplays
Days of Grace
and
Sleeping Dogs Lie
. He lives in New York City.

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THEWOMANWHOWASNTTHERE.COM.

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