1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An unforgettable memoir about a young girl who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University
"A coming-of-age memoir reminiscent of The Glass Castle."-O: The Oprah Magazine
"Beautiful and propulsive . . . Despite the singularity of [Westover's] childhood, the questions her book poses are universal: How much of ourselves should we give to those we love? And how much must we betray them to grow up?"-Vogue
Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
"Heart-wrenching . . . a beautiful testament to the power of education to open eyes and change lives."-Amy Chua, The New York Times Book Review
"A heartbreaking, heartwarming, best-in-years memoir."-USA Today
"Tara Westover's one-of-a-kind memoir is about the shaping of a mind. . . . She evokes a childhood that completely defined her. Yet it was also, she gradually sensed, deforming her."-The Atlantic
"Riveting . . . Westover brings readers deep into this world, a milieu usually hidden from outsiders."-The Economist
"Incredibly thought-provoking . . . so much more than a memoir about a woman who graduated college without a formal education. It is about a woman who must learn how to learn."-The Harvard Crimson
"A subtle, nuanced study of how dysfunction of any kind can be normalized even within the most conventional family structure, and of the damage such containment can do."-Financial Times
"Westover's extraordinary memoir is haunting in the best way, delivering a powerful coming-of-age saga."-Paste
