In this searing memoir of survival in the spirit of Stolen Innocence, the daughter of Warren Jeffs, the self-proclaimed Prophet of the FLDS Church, takes you deep inside the secretive polygamist Mormon fundamentalist cult run by her family and how she escaped it.
Born into the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Rachel Jeffs was raised in a strict patriarchal culture … patriarchal culture defined by subordinate sister wives and men they must obey. No one in this radical splinter sect of the Mormon Church was more powerful or terrifying than its leader Warren Jeffs—Rachel’s father.
Living outside mainstream Mormonism and federal law, Jeffs arranged marriages between under-age girls and middle-aged and elderly members of his congregation. In 2006, he gained international notoriety when the FBI placed him on its Ten Most Wanted List. Though he is serving a life sentence for child sexual assault, Jeffs’ iron grip on the church remains firm, and his edicts to his followers increasingly restrictive and bizarre.
In Breaking Free, Rachel blows the lid off this taciturn community made famous by Jon Krakauer’s bestselling Under the Banner of Heaven to offer a harrowing look at her life with Warren Jeffs, and the years of physical and emotional abuse she suffered. Sexually assaulted, compelled into an arranged polygamous marriage, locked away in “houses of hiding” as punishment for perceived transgressions, and physically separated from her children, Rachel, Jeffs’ first plural daughter by his second of more than fifty wives, eventually found the courage to leave the church in 2015. But Breaking Free is not only her story—Rachel’s experiences illuminate those of her family and the countless others who remain trapped in the strange world she left behind.
A shocking and mesmerizing memoir of faith, abuse, courage, and freedom, Breaking Free is an expose of religious extremism and a beacon of hope for anyone trying to overcome personal obstacles.
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Very well written and a fascinating story.
This is such an unreal story that it’s hard to imagine these types of situations actually exist. You won’t believe it!!
Simplistic writing about a complex and awful situation. Really dreadful subjugation Terrible man.
This nonfiction story is a clear example that real life can be worse than fiction. I am not a religious person, so I find it very hard to sympathize with people who still let themselves be governed by religious institutions. But this story is different because we are in front of brainwashing discourse here. And this brainwashing comes from their births, so it is almost impossible to escape from it.
This story makes me ask myself all the time what about the Government? What about the political institutions? The NGOs? I know that her father was persecuted by the law, but is it right economically, socially, and even psychologically to be born in a place where health necessities are not guaranteed? That access to education is not an option? That even freedom is not a privilege?
I never imagined that still nowadays there exist groups or institutions that govern people’s lives under God’s name or under the so-called “religious freedom” term.
I am grateful for choosing what to think (or something like that because I know that everyone is under the influence of something), what to wear, what to study, to whom I want to marry, or even if I want to marry. I find her story shocking, mainly because I cannot conceive of being so controlled and deprived of any liberty.
I congratulate Rachel for not giving up, for her bravery to stand against such a monster, and for defying the so-called “God’s will”. You are such a smart woman that insisted on following your own intuitions and finally broke free from hell.
A very troubling story of one man’s ability to brainwash his “congregation” into believing he had a direct line to God. Even Jeffs’ ridiculous proclamations like married couples not allowed to have sexy or hold hands or God deciding that they could no longer eat corn or cottage cheese were accepted without question. I was rooting for Rachel all the way!
How can you not find it sad that an evil
Leader can inspire such tragic loyalty?? I had no idea of the size and financial strength of that group.
Great story of a woman’s escape from the cult.
interesting
Tragic, nauseating, interesting, and informative.
I new little about the FLDS before reading this book, which is why I chose to read it. Disturbing, yet educational.
Good book. I got a bit bogged down in the details but all in all I found it fascinating reading. A very strong woman to have come through all that
Well written account of her life in polygamy. It’s disheartening to hear so much abuse these young women suffered. Families fractured. her children will never see their father again because he was brainwashed. I am glad she was able to escape.
It was a fast read. Well written and a page turner for me. I think it could have been deeper but, for the average person it was informative.