The Lasting Harm

WINNER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD WINNER OF THE DAVITT AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE DOUGLAS STEWART PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE VICTORIAN PREMIER'S LITERARY PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 NED KELLY AWARD FOR BEST TRUE CRIME LONGLISTED FOR THE WALKLEY BOOK AWARD LONGLISTED FOR THE NIB LITERARY AWARD 'THE BEST BOOK ON EPSTEIN' OBSERVER 'I understand - and sympathise with - the feeling you might have that you already know the Jeffrey Epstein story. But I am not here to tell you a story about Jeffrey Epstein, or even Ghislaine Maxwell. I am here to tell you the stories of ten women, many of whom have never spoken at length before, about the real impact of sexual trauma on their lives' In November 2021, Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of five counts of sex-trafficking of minors, and now faces twenty years in prison for the role she played in Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of four girls. The trial was meticulously covered by journalist and legal reporter Lucia Osborne-Crowley, one of the only reporters allowed into the courtroom every day. The Lasting Harm is her account of that trial, a gripping true crime drama and a blistering critique of a criminal justice system ill-equipped to deliver justice for abuse survivors, no matter the outcome. Giving voice to four women and their testimonies, and supplemented by exclusive interviews, The Lasting Harm brings this incendiary trial to life, questions our age-old appetite for crime and punishment and offers a new blueprint for meaningful reparative justice.

Lucia Osborne-Crowley is a trained lawyer, legal reporter and journalist and the author of two books, I Choose Elena (2019) and My Body Keeps Your Secrets (2021), winner of a Somerset Maugham Award. Her forensic but accessible reporting of the Maxwell trial was described as some of the best and most trauma-informed coverage of the case, and it saw her social media following grow by over 35,000 followers. She has appeared as an expert journalist on the Maxwell and Prince Andrew cases on BBC News, Sky News, LBC News and BBC Radio among others. Her analysis appeared in print in The Independent and ABC news. Elsewhere, her news reporting has appeared in the Guardian, The Sunday Times and GQ Magazine and her literary writing has been published in Granta and Meanjin.