AliceSebold's courageous Lucky describes her experience as a student at SyracuseUniversity.

Alice is an intelligent young woman constantly trying to fitin and make new friends. On the last day of freshman year, her virginity andinnocence are taken when she is brutally raped.

After the assault,things in Alice's life change. People start to whisper in the hallways, and herfriends look at her differently. At home, Alice's parents don't know how to dealwith her situation and try to pretend nothing happened.

When Alice returnsto school her friends, once supportive, coldly ask why she would come back. Sheis restricted to living in an all-girls dormitory and walking outside only duringthe day; the rapist begins to control her life.

Alice becomes friends withher English professor, who urges Alice to write about her rape to release herfeelings. Alice creates an emotional poem about wanting revenge, which bafflesher classmates.

After class one day Alice encounters her rapist and runsto the police station. Now he has a name - he's Marshall, not just "TheRapist" anymore. Few rape cases ever get to court but Alice is"lucky" to land a case in front of a grand jury.