Terry Karger is the one living person who intimately knew Marilyn Monroe and Ronald Reagan.

"Looks will get you far, but not as far as a good education."
--Marilyn Monroe to Terry Karger

Terry Karger was a child of Hollywood: the daughter of Columbia Pictures' vocal coach, composer, and musical director Fred Karger; the granddaughter of Metro Pictures co-founder Maxwell Karger. And what a story she has to tell, centering on and revolving around Fred's relationships with a trio of silver-screen legends: Jane Wyman, Ronald Reagan, and, primarily, Marilyn Monroe.

Marilyn, recently evolved from Norma Jeane Mortenson, was still an unknown starlet when, as a twenty-one-year-old, she first met six-year-old Terry--and began dating her dad--in the spring of 1948. The orphaned, emotionally fragile actress initially babysat Fred's daughter while turning to his family for much-needed moral support. Although the Marilyn-Fred relationship lasted just over a year, her close friendship with the Kargers, including Fred, continued until the end of her life.

While Fred was Marilyn's first love, his mom, Nana, was the mother she never really had. Being around the Kargers allowed "Maril," as they called her, to relax and be herself--especially after she became a star. It also enabled her to appease her own unfulfilled maternal instincts, acting as a cross between a sweet, playful big sister and generous, caring surrogate mom to Terry.

The unique insight this gave Terry will help readers get to know a side of Marilyn Monroe the public never saw: the human side. My Maril reveals a sensitive yet strong-willed woman of great emotional and intellectual depth. Marilyn Monroe was no dumb blonde.

While appealing to anyone with an interest in Hollywood's golden era, this unique memoir will grab the attention of Marilyn Monroe fans worldwide thanks to privately taken, previously unpublished photos of the iconic superstar with her adopted family and friends.
About the Author: Terry Karger graduated from the University of Southern California in 1963, one year after Marilyn Monroe's death. She taught at Crescent Heights Elementary and would later teach at Westwood Elementary where her students had parents such as Micky Dolenz, Millie Perkins, Ronny Cox, and Richard Pryor.

New York Times bestselling author Jay Margolis graduated summa cum laude from the University of Southern California and became a Jesse Unruh Research Scholar for his paper on African American Reparations. On October 15, 2014, The National Press Club in Washington, D.C. accepted Margolis's book The Murder of Marilyn Monroe: Case Closed for display at the 37th Annual Book Fair & Authors' Night, in partnership with Politics & Prose. The Murder of Marilyn Monroe: Case Closed was translated into Italian, French, and Russian and became a New York Times bestseller. Jay Margolis appeared in the 2014 United Kingdom documentary, directed by Renny Bartlett, titled The Missing Evidence: The Death of Marilyn Monroe, a Blink Films production in association with the Smithsonian Channel.