26 Feb 2012 04:32:11
The Seattle woman, who is now 24, signed the deal with HarperCollins and the still-untitled book is due out in early 2013.
"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," HarperCollins said in a statement.
"Aided by journals she kept during her imprisonment, Knox will talk about her harrowing experience at the hands of the Italian police and later prison guards and inmates. She will reveal never-before-told details surrounding her case, and describe how she used her inner strength and strong family ties to cope with the most challenging time of her young life."
Knox was arrested in November 2007 along with Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and charged with killing Meredith Kercher, whose body was found partially nude and her throat slashed.
Knox and Sollecito, now 27, were convicted of murder and it wasn't until four years later that an appeals court threw out the conviction and freed Knox and Sollecito.
In the meantime, her life became the subject of several books and a movie. She will now write her own book about the ordeal.
The book deal will be welcomed by the Knox family, who estimated more than a year ago that they had spent $1 million in legal fees and travel costs to defend and support their daughter.
The family's legal problems are not yet over. Italian prosecutors have filed papers to overturn the ruling that freed her.
Prosecutor Giovanni Galati said this week that he is "very convinced" that Knox and Sollecito are guilty.
The Knox family said the prosecutor's actions were "another example of harassment by the prosecution against Amanda and makes this terrible, painful incident continue to go on for Amanda, Raffaele and their families."
In addition, Amanda Knox is appealing a conviction for slandering her former boss at the time of the murder. She claims that detectives pressured her into implicating Patrick Lumumba during a marathon interrogation.
A third person, Ivory Coast-born drifter Rudy Guede, was convicted of taking part in Kercher's murder in a separate trial. He is serving a 16 year prison sentence.
Both Amanda Knox and her parents are charged with slandering Italian police for saying they hit her in the head during the interrogation.
The book deal was negotiated for Knox by Robert Barnett, a powerhouse lawyer who negotiated book deals for the Clintons, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
