Jeannie Vanasco was a sophomore in college when she was sexually assaulted by one of her closest friends from high school. Still haunted by the incident 14 years later, she wondered: Did he think about that night, as well? How had he processed what he’d done? Was he remorseful? She managed to track him down, and called …

Now a writer and an assistant English professor at Towson University, Vanasco walks through her trauma, feelings of betrayal, and need for accountability in a discussion of her new book Things We Didn’t Talk About When I Was a Girl. What sets the #MeToo-era memoir apart is the voice she also gives to her attacker—she calls him Mark—who agreed to speak with her at length for the book. Vanasco boldly explores how the rape impacted both their lives.

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