Margaux Fragoso borrowed the title of her only published book, the memoir “Tiger, Tiger,” from William Blake. What divine presence, Blake wondered, could have created the tiger’s fiery eyes, burning bright? “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?”

Ms. Fragoso never painted herself as an entirely innocent lamb. Nor did she suggest that the man she called Peter Curran, the 51-year-old pedophile who began abusing her when she was 7 and who maintained their relationship for 15 years, was an irredeemably ferocious tiger.

Rather, like the stanzas in Blake’s poem, her book raised more questions than it answered. Reviews ranged from livid indictments of what was dismissed as exploitive pornography to ringing endorsements of Ms. Fragoso’s bravery as a catharsis for herself, and a cautionary tale for children and their parents — a “Lolita” from Lolita’s perspective. It was listed by several publications as one of the notable books of the year.

Ms. Fragoso died on Friday in Mandeville, La., at 38. Her husband, Tom O’Connor, said the cause was ovarian cancer.