You All Grow Up And Leave Me: A Memoir Of Teenage Obsession

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Synopsis

A highly unsettling blend of true crime and coming-of-age memoir— The Stranger Beside Me meets Prep—that presents an intimate and thought-provoking portrait of girlhood within Manhattan’s exclusive prep-school scene in the early 1990s, and a thoughtful meditation on adolescent obsession and the vulnerability of youth.

Piper Weiss was fourteen years old when her middle-aged tennis coach, Gary Wilensky, one of New York City’s most prestigious private instructors, killed himself after a failed attempt to kidnap one of his teenage students. In the aftermath, authorities discovered that this well-known figure among the Upper East Side tennis crowd was actually a frightening child predator who had built a secret torture chamber—a "Cabin of Horrors"—in his secluded rental in the Adirondacks.

Before the shocking scandal broke, Piper had been thrilled to be one of "Gary’s Girls." "Grandpa Gary," as he was known among his students, was different from other adults—he treated Piper like a grown-up, taking her to dinners, engaging in long intimate conversations with her, and sending her special valentines. As reporters swarmed her private community in the wake of Wilensky’s death, Piper learned that her mentor was a predator with a sordid history of child stalking and sexual fetish. But why did she still feel protective of Gary, and why was she disappointed that he hadn’t chosen her?

Now, twenty years later, Piper examines the event as both a teenage eyewitness and a dispassionate investigative reporter, hoping to understand and exorcise the childhood memories that haunt her to this day. Combining research, interviews, and personal records, You All Grow Up and Leave Me explores the psychological manipulation by child predators—their ability to charm their way into seemingly protected worlds—and the far-reaching effects their actions have on those who trust them most.

Chapters

  • 001 You All Grow Up and Leave Me

    Duration: 13s
  • 002 Preface

    Duration: 01min
  • 003 Prologue

    Duration: 03min
  • 004 Girl

    Duration: 13min
  • 005 Man

    Duration: 07min
  • 006 Girl-School

    Duration: 15min
  • 007 Girl-Home

    Duration: 16min
  • 008 Man-Home

    Duration: 12min
  • 009 Girl-First Lesson

    Duration: 09min
  • 010 Girl-Self Defense

    Duration: 17min
  • 011 Girl-Good

    Duration: 04min
  • 012 Archivists, Exes, Dead People

    Duration: 21min
  • 013 Man-Portrait

    Duration: 07min
  • 014 Girl-Portrait

    Duration: 13min
  • 015 Girl-Kiss

    Duration: 16min
  • 016 Girl-New Lesson

    Duration: 14min
  • 017 Man-Favorites

    Duration: 08min
  • 018 Child Allies

    Duration: 10min
  • 019 Reporters, Survivors, Old Flames

    Duration: 11min
  • 020 Man-Movie Character

    Duration: 09min
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