Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

What more can be said about this book?

Customer Rating:

Everyone here has pretty much raved about this book, so I won't rehash it all. Just adding my voice to the rest and saying - Wow! Received this book in the morning, finished it by evening. Truly one I couldn't put down - realized I was walking around the house with it in my hand. You start out feeling sorry for this woman, but soon realize she is quite capable of taking care of herself and her children and doesn't want or need your pity, thank you very much! Early in the book you know that she is going to rise above this life, and you want to keep reading just to see how she does it. Inspirational.

Stranger (and more disturbing) than fiction

Customer Rating:

My wife bought this book. Just the sort of thing she would read, I thought. Then I picked it up myself, and was unable to put it down. The events and the personalities it describes are all true, yet barely credible. One wonders how such things can go on in a 'civilized' western country. Carolyn Jessop's upbringing in the FLDS faith, her forced polygamous marriage, the harrowing accounts of her treatment by her husband and his favourite wife, and her eventual escape are calculated to make your blood boil. At every page I was asking myself: How could this happen? How could anyone allow themselves to be treated in this way? How could anyone be duped into believing such utter garbage? Why did no-one do anything about it? Strange but true. You can read newspaper accounts about the FLDS and its prophet Warren Jeffs that will bear it out. This may be a book of the 'hasn't my life been awful' genre, but it is one of the better ones. Not a literary masterpiece; it just tells the story as it happened. The book and the events it describes are very recent. I would imagine that its author is still in the process of recovering from her old life and discovering her new one. If she were to write an update from a longer perspective in a few years from now, I would certainly wish to read it.

Nightmare

Customer Rating:

This is a truly frightening book, which shows the appalling lengths people subvert so-called religion for their own ends, but also an extremely gripping one. You see how brainwashing can lead people into believing the most terrible tosh. Thankfully Carolyn managed to escape, but there are hundreds more left behind without hope of a decent life (and part of the problem is that they don't really know what a decent life is). Perhaps even more amazing and disgraceful is the apparent collusion of the USA authorities in allowing such practices to continue.

A different life

Customer Rating:

This book opened by eyes to the damage forced religion can do Carolyn had a lot of courage to escape from the clutchs of this extreme brand of Mormanism. I think Carolyns book will help people understand what dangers are out their for women and children in these types of communites. I think the book is a heartfelt read though I would have liked to know if Carolyn kept up some parts of her religion in the less restictive Salt Lake City. This book is a must for anyone who belives in religious freedoms I am glad Carolyn got a lot of help and support when she started her new life.

Couldn't put this one down - a gobsmacking read

Customer Rating:

Having heard Carolyn Jessop on Radio 4 earlier this year I was intrigued to read her book. This is not one of the run of the mill battered wife books - far from it. What shines through is the bravery and courage of one woman who in the face of seemingly insummountable odds, continued to fight for her life and those of her children too - she never gave up - never. It is also an honest insight into a way of life so far removed from modern day America. One of those books I couldn't put down, totally captivating. I hope that some of the women currently dealing with the challenges at the YFZ ranch in Texas have the courage to read her words and follow her lead to a better life. And, I hope this makes the American authorities sit up and do more to help the victims of this awful regime.