A few days before the end of spring term, an anonymous note arrived at The Harvard Crimson. It contained a photograph of a student and a typed message: "Keep this picture. There will soon be a very juicy story involving this woman." Now, the critically acclaimed author of The Dead Girl reveals the never-before-told story of two girls - one from Ethiopia, the other from Vietnam - for whom admission to Harvard was like "halfway heaven, " the stepping stone to the American Dream that would ensure success for them and their families; and how they met instead with the darkest of all fates: a tragedy that might have been prevented. Based on Melanie Thernstrom's article in The New Yorker, here is the complete story of an unfathomable murder/suicide that shocked the country - and a groundbreaking expose of one of America's most distinguished universities.