Story highlights
- Publisher: "This book will give Knox an opportunity to tell her story for the first time"
- Amanda Knox was cleared of murdering British student Meredith Kercher in October
- Knox returned to Seattle with her family after spending four years in custody
- Knox will give a "full and unflinching account" of her ordeal, the publisher says
Amanda Knox has signed a deal with HarperCollins to write a memoir about her trial, conviction and acquittal for murder in Italy, the publisher said Friday.
The book, based in part on journals she kept, will give never-before heard details about her "harrowing experience" while in custody there, HarperCollins said.
"For the very first time since her trial for murder, her four-year incarceration in Perugia, Italy, and her appeal and acquittal of all charges, Amanda Knox will share the truth about her terrifying ordeal," the publisher said in a statement.
"Knox will give a full and unflinching account of the events that led to her arrest in Perugia and her struggles with the complexities of the Italian judicial system."
The memoir will show how Knox drew on her inner strength and strong family ties to cope with the challenge, the statement adds.
Jonathan Burnham, who negotiated the deal for Harper Collins, is quoted as saying: "Many accounts have been written of the Amanda Knox case, and countless writers and reporters have speculated on what role, if any, was played by Knox in that tragic and terrifying sequence of events.
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"No one has yet heard Amanda Knox's own account of what happened, and this book will give Knox an opportunity to tell the story in full detail, for the first time."
The deal comes after prosecutors in Italy lodged an appeal Tuesday of the acquittal of Knox, now 24, and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher.
Knox was 20 and Kercher was 21 when the two shared a home as they studied at the university for foreign students in Perugia, Italy.
Kercher's semi-naked body was found in November 2007 at the home, with her throat slashed.
The case has gripped the attention of the public in the United States, Italy and Britain ever since.
The filing of the appeal of her acquittal raised the question of whether an arrest warrant or extradition order could be issued for Knox if her acquittal is annulled, or if she could be made to serve the remainder of her initial 26-year prison term.
But Knox's family said in a statement issued through a spokesman that the prosecutors' appeal was unwelcome, but no cause for concern.
Knox is herself currently appealing her conviction for defaming Patrick Lumumba, a club owner whom she falsely accused of killing Kercher.
