One Day She'll Darken

The Mysterious Beginnings of Fauna Hodel

By: Fauna Hodel, J R Briamonte

Narrated by: January LaVoy

The inspiration for the TNT series I Am the Night.

The Black Dahlia Murder is near-legend in the annals of true crime. But behind the shocking case of a young actress’ gruesome slaying lies the story of another woman.

Was Fauna Hodel the child of incest and the catalyst for a sensational trial that left her well-to-do family scarred by scandal, even as the accused sexual predator walked free? Taken as an infant from her teenage mother, Fauna was placed in the care of a working-class black woman who raised the white child as her own.

Together, as a close-knit mother and daughter, they weathered years of poverty and bigotry, alcoholism and sexual abuse, pregnancy and even death - until the time came for Fauna to seek out her real mother and uncover her lost past.

But as Fauna will learn, some truths don’t want to be told.

©2008 Fauna Hodel, J. R. Briamonte (P)2019 Graymalkin Media, LLC

Better than Fiction

While I’m enjoying the new series, I am the Night, I find this true story to be much more fulfilling. I knew about this book and Steve Hodel’s books for years, and while I remain on the fence as to whether or not George Hodel killed the black dahlia, Elizabeth Short, the TV show started a renewed interest in this entire story. I wish so much that we could have seen the movie Fauna tried to make with Jill Clayburgh, but maybe one day a more accurate Lifetime movie starring Jill’s daughter, Lily Rabe will happen, I am suggesting. If you want to know the real story, I highly recommend this book.

Amazing!

This book was very well written and the story really grabs you from the beginning. Remarkable.

Is she half black? Or not?…

(As posted in GoodReads)
It's an interesting story, and it really made me wonder about the Black Dahlia – although that's really not a part of this story at all. In the end, there were really no answers; I realize that it was real life and true, and in real life there are often no real answers, but it seems to defy the whole point of the book - although I suppose that the fact that she was loyal to Jimmi (sp-audiobooks do not provide spellings) to the end could have been the point. ...and I couldn't tell what the ending situation was with Billy. Now I have to read about Black Dahlia.

Better than I expected and not at all what I expected

Such an interesting and somewhat heartbreaking story. Fauna Hodel’s resilience and strength is inspiring. Surrounded by disfunction she always seemed to keep moving forward.

Intriguing!

This story is a must read! It really isn’t explainable! It is true life. Couldn’t put it down!