Robin Gaby Fisher - The Woman Who Wasnt There: The True Story of an Incredible Deception

Advance praise for

THE WOMAN WHO WASNT THERE

I finished reading this book weeks ago, but I cant put it down. It continues to haunt me, and it will you as well. A story impossible to believe... except its all true.

MEREDITH VIEIRA

Alternately heartbreaking and horrifying, The Woman Who Wasnt There is a compelling real-life mystery as disturbing as a psychological thriller. The depths of Tania Heads 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 Widows 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 Guglielmos masterfully nuanced portrait, Tania Heads deception of the survivors becomes understandableeven as it remains unforgivableas 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 SchoolNewark 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 its 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 Prizewinning writer for the Star-Ledger

To behold (Tania) Heads 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 Heads astonishing account of her experience on September 11, 2001from crawling through the carnage and chaos to escaping the seventy-eighth-floor sky lobby of the burning south tower to losing her fianc in the collapsed north towertransformed 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 Tanias storya 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 Tanias closest friends, The Woman Who Wasnt There is the story of one of the most audacious and bewildering quests for acclaim in recent memoryone 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 Prizewinning team. She teaches narrative journalism at Rutgers University.

ANGELO J. GUGLIELMO, JR., is the award-winning director of the documentary The Woman Who Wasnt 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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Copyright 2012 by Robin Gaby Fisher and Angelo J. Guglielmo, Jr.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
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First Touchstone hardcover edition April 2012

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Designed by Akasha Archer

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Fisher, Robin Gaby.
The woman who wasnt there : the true story of an incredible deception / Robin
Gaby Fisher and Angelo J. Guglielmo.
p.cm.
A Touchstone Book.
1. Head, Tania. 2. Impostors and impostureNew York (State)New York.
3. September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001 4. World Trade Center (New York, N.Y.)
I. Guglielmo, Angelo J. II. Title.
HV6760.H43F57 2012
974.7'044092dc23
[B]
2011042089

ISBN 978-1-4516-5208-6
ISBN 978-1-4516-5210-9 (ebook)

PART 6: 2007

I used to think I was a filmmaker first, and getting the story was the only thing that mattered. And I then met Tania Head, and everything changed.