Opal Book

In 1920, Americans were captivated by the childhood diary of Opal Whiteley, an enigmatic young woman from a small logging town in the Northwest. The diary, which Whiteley claimed a cruel foster sister had torn to shreds many years before, was painstakingly pasted together before publication. It chronicled Opal's adventures in the forests of Oregon at the age of seven and was hailed as a revelatory portrait of a child's relationship to God and the natural world. It also contained strange clues to a mystery surrounding the child's birth. Why were parts of the diary - written in crayon on old paper bags and butcher paper - in French? And who were the mysterious Angel Mother and Father the child referred to?

The diary became an overnight publishing sensation, and Opal, a beautiful, charming twenty-two-year-old, quickly became a celebrity. Some skeptics dismissed the diary as a hoax, but others remained convinced. Opal is the story of her legacy and of the many ways she has been perceived: New Age prophet and environmentalist, mad genius, long-lost princess, and flamboyant fraud. It is also the tale of the whirlwind and eccentric life she led on several continents after the diary was published and the host of rich, famous, and high-born figures she enchanted and counted as her friends.

Thoroughly examining Opal's personal papers and letters and interviewing those who knew her, Katherine Beck has put together the most complete picture of her life yet.