Selected as a book of the year by Amazon, The Times, Sunday Times, Guardian, New York Times, Economist, New Statesman, Vogue, Irish Times, Irish Examiner and RED Magazine. The multi-million copy best seller. A Book of the Decade, 2010-2020 (Independent). Tara Westover and her family grew up preparing for the End of Days but, according to the government, she didn’t exist.
She hadn’t been registered for a birth certificate. She had no school records because she’d never set foot in a classroom and no medical records because her father didn’t believe in hospitals.
As she grew older, her father became more radical and her brother more violent.
At 16, Tara knew she had to leave home. In doing so she discovered both the transformative power of education and the price she had to pay for it.
From one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2019.
Shortlisted for the 2018 BAMB Readers' Awards. Recommended by Barack Obama, Anthony Beevor, Blake Morrison and Nina Stibbe.