Download or read book Escaping the Cult One cult two stories of survival written by Natacha Tormey and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2014-07-03 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling “Not Without My Sister”, detailing the incredible story of three siblings battling to escape the infamous Children of God cult, is for the first time combined with “Born Into The Children of God”, the shocking but inspiring account of Natacha Tormey, who underwent similar horrors.
Download or read book Escape Through the Window written by Sarah Rose and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2013-07-26 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the true account of how I gave my life to a cruel and criminally insane cult leader, and how I was miraculously able to take it back and emerge a stronger and more compassionate person. Escape is the first book that tells an insider's story of daily life ruled by a psychopathic cult leader. The book shows how easy it is to become brainwashed by a charismatic personality into thinking that torture, starvation, and complete isolation are essential to a spiritual life. It is also a cautionary tale for the parents and family members of anyone belonging to a cult, and for people recovering from cults, extreme religions, or abusive relationships.
Download or read book Triumph written by Carolyn Jessop and published by Crown. This book was released on 2011-05-03 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A moving and inspirational true story of one woman’s life after fleeing the ultra-fundamentalist American religious sect featured in Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey—from the New York Times bestselling author of Escape “Triumph is thoughtful, intelligent, and engaging.”—Meg Wolitzer, bestselling author of The Interestings In 2003, Carolyn Jessop, a lifelong member of the extremist Mormon sect the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), gathered up her eight children, including her profoundly disabled four-year-old son, and escaped in the middle of the night to freedom. After detailing the shocking conditions of FLDS and her harrowing flight in her memoir, Escape, Carolyn reveled in her newfound identity as a bestselling author, a devoted mom, and a loving companion to the wonderful man in her life. She thought she had put her past firmly behind her. Then, on April 3, 2008, it came roaring back when the state of Texas, acting on a tip from a young girl who’d called a hotline alleging abuse, staged a surprise raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch, a sprawling, 1700-acre compound near Eldorado, Texas, where the jailed FLDS “prophet” Warren Jeffs had relocated his sect’s most “worthy” members three years earlier. The ranch was being run by Merril Jessop, Carolyn’s ex-husband and one of the cult’s most powerful leaders. As a mesmerized nation watched the crisis unfold, Carolyn was called upon as an expert to help authorities understand the customs and beliefs of the extremist religious sect. In Triumph, Carolyn tells the real, harrowing story behind the raid and sets the record straight on much of the damaging misinformation that flooded the media in its aftermath. She recounts the setbacks and the successes, all while weaving in details of her own life in the years since her escape—including her budding role as a social critic and her struggle to make peace with her eldest daughter’s heartbreaking decision to return to the cult. An extraordinary woman who has overcome countless challenges and tragedies in her life, Carolyn shows us in this book how she has triumphed in spite of everything—and how you can, too, no matter what adversity you face.
Download or read book Born into the Children of God My life in a religious sex cult and my struggle for survival on the outside written by Natacha Tormey and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2014-07-03 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natacha Tormey was born into the infamous religious cult known as The Children of God. Abused, exploited, and brainwashed by ‘The Family’, Natacha’s childhood was stolen.
Download or read book Sex Cult Nun written by Faith Jones and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-11-30 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Named a Best Book of 2021 by Newsweek and a Most Anticipated by People, TIME, USA Today, Real Simple, Glamour, Nylon, Bustle, Purewow, Shondaland, and more! Educated meets The Vow in this story of liberation and self-empowerment—an inspiring and stranger-than-fiction memoir of growing up in and breaking free from the Children of God, an oppressive, extremist religious cult. Faith Jones was raised to be part a religious army preparing for the End Times. Growing up on an isolated farm in Macau, she prayed for hours every day and read letters of prophecy written by her grandfather, the founder of the Children of God. Tens of thousands of members strong, the cult followers looked to Faith’s grandfather as their guiding light. As such, Faith was celebrated as special and then punished doubly to remind her that she was not. Over decades, the Children of God grew into an international organization that became notorious for its alarming sex practices and allegations of abuse and exploitation. But with indomitable grit, Faith survived, creating a world of her own—pilfering books and teaching herself high school curriculum. Finally, at age twenty-three, thirsting for knowledge and freedom, she broke away, leaving behind everything she knew to forge her own path in America. A complicated family story mixed with a hauntingly intimate coming-of-age narrative, Faith Jones’ extraordinary memoir reflects our societal norms of oppression and abuse while providing a unique lens to explore spiritual manipulation and our rights in our bodies. Honest, eye-opening, uplifting, and intensely affecting, Sex Cult Nun brings to life a hidden world that’s hypnotically alien yet unexpectedly relatable.
Download or read book Manhattan Cult Story written by Spencer Schneider and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-07-05 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “We were invisible. We had to be. We took an oath of absolute secrecy. We never even told our immediate families who we were. We went about our lives in New York City. Just like you. We were your accountants, money managers, lawyers, executive recruiters, doctors. We owned your child’s private school and sold you your brownstone. But you’d never guess our secret lives, how we lived in a kind of silent terror and fervor. There were hundreds of us.” Right under the noses of neighbors, clients, spouses, children, and friends, a secret society, simply called School—a cult of snared Manhattan professionals—has been led by the charismatic, sociopathic and dangerous leader Sharon Gans for decades. Spencer Schneider was recruited in the eighties and he stayed for more than twenty-three years as his life disintegrated, his self-esteem eroded, and he lined the pockets of Gans and her cult. Cult members met twice weekly, though they never acknowledged one another outside of meetings or gatherings. In the name of inner development, they endured the horrors of mental, sexual, and physical abuse, forced labor, arranged marriages, swindled inheritances and savings, and systematic terrorizing. Some of them broke the law. All for Gans. “During those years,” Schneider writes, “my world was School. That’s what it’s like when you’re in a cult, even one that preys on and caters to New York’s educated elite. This is my story of how I got entangled in School and how I got out.” At its core, Manhattan Cult Story is a cautionary tale of how hundreds of well-educated, savvy, and prosperous New Yorkers became fervent followers of a brilliant but demented cult leader who posed as a teacher of ancient knowledge. It’s about double-lives, the power of group psychology, and how easy it is to be radicalized—all too relevant in today's atmosphere of conspiracy and ideologue worship.
Download or read book Cult Following written by Bexy Cameron and published by Manilla Press. This book was released on 2022-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can you ever escape your childhood?
Download or read book Escaping Cult Entrapment written by Gabriella Gallo and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2012-02-02 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Escaping Cult Entrapment tells a compelling story beginning with a young teenage couple in despair, with two babies and no means to support their family. The story focuses on Sophia, the second oldest daughter, born in 1968. The couple falls victim to the enticements of the Children of God Cult and the promise of a new life in the early 1970s. The family becomes trapped by the cults brainwashing and manipulation in a decade of widespread hippie movements. As the family grows, they live a life full of bewildering events that they consider honorable in the missionary work they perform based on their desire to serve God, but awful in tormenting events driven by the cults deception and social isolation. The father, Sebastian, is increasingly entangled in the cults web of lies and becomes alienated from his wife, Elizabeth, and their seven young children. With remarkable strength and faith Elizabeth carries out her decision to leave her husband and the cult. She conquers her fears in order to provide a better life for her and her children. Over the next 10 years Sophias family endures a journey of chaos and triumph as they fight to integrate back into society. With little money, they have to figure out how to live their new life. At the same time, Elizabeth shows them the important things in life, knowing that you dont need money to have a loving home. The family is determined to overcome tremendous hardship. They have to adapt and survive as they are faced with emotional, social and financial challenges. Elizabeth teaches them strong will and that their circumstances are only temporary. Sophias experiences are tragic during her younger years, but inspirational as she grows into an adolescent and young adult.
Download or read book Born into the Children of God Part 2 of 3 My life in a religious sex cult and my struggle for survival on the outside written by Natacha Tormey and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2014-07-03 with total page 83 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Born into the Children of God can either be read as a full-length eBook or in 3 serialised eBook-only parts. This is PART 2 of 3.
Download or read book Talking to Strangers written by Marianne Boucher and published by Doubleday Canada. This book was released on 2020-04-07 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For fans of Wild Wild Country, Scientology and the Aftermath and Uncover: Escaping NXIVM, a spellbinding graphic memoir about a teenage girl who was lured into a cult and later fought to escape and reclaim her identity. Welcome to a place where you are valued. Where everyone is kind. Where you can be your truest self. It was the summer of 1980, and Marianne Boucher was ready to chase her figure skating dream. Fuelled by the desire to rise above her mundane high-school life, she sought a new adventure as a glamorous performer in L.A. And then a chance encounter on a California beach introduced her to a new group of people. People who shared her distrust of the status quo. People who seemed to value authenticity and compassion above all else. And they liked her. Not Marianne the performer, but Marianne the person. Soon, she'd abandoned school, her skating and, most dramatically, her family to live with her new friends and help them fulfill their mission of "saving the world." She believed that no sacrifice was too great to be there--and to live with real purpose. They were helping people, and they cared about her . . . didn't they? Talking to Strangers is the true story of Marianne Boucher's experiences in a cult, where she was subjected to sophisticated brainwashing techniques that took away her freedom, and took over her mind. Told in mesmerizing graphic memoir form, with vivid text and art alike, Marianne shares how she fell in with devotees of a frightening spiritual abuser, and how she eventually, painfully, pulled herself out.
Download or read book The Son of Seven Mothers written by Benjamin Risha and published by WildBlue Press. This book was released on 2021-03-23 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A man shares his story of growing up in a late 20th-century American cult—and how he escaped—in this gripping autobiography. As the adopted son of two cult leaders, Benjamin Risha was raised to someday assume a place of leadership in the Alamo Christian Foundation, with the Bible, and his parents’ interpretations of it, as his guide. He believed the prophecies of his adoptive mother and father, Tony and Susan Alamo, including them being the two prophets foretold in the Book of Revelations who precede the second coming of Jesus Christ, them rising from the dead after they died, and such dire warnings as the ground opening up to swallow non-believers into hell. And he was sure that Susan Alamo could raise the dead as promised. However, when none of it happened, and the foundation slid from bucolic communal lifestyle to insufferable criminality that included absolute obedience to the Alamos, and polygamous marriages with girls as young as eight years old, Benjamin knew he had to escape. If he were caught trying to escape, he would be severely beaten, forced to go without food and water for his sins, and shamed in the community. So, he embarked on a journey to locate his birth parents, discover the truth about a world he knew nothing about . . . and find himself. In The Son of Seven Mothers, Benjamin Risha takes readers on a harrowing journey that few in the United States can imagine. And eventually he must choose between the life he knows and was “chosen” to lead, and his freedom.
Download or read book Not Without My Sister written by Celeste Jones and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2007 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of three girls violated and betrayed.
Download or read book Scarred written by Sarah Edmondson and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As seen in the HBO docuseries THE VOW: The shocking and subversive memoir of a 12-year-NXIVM-member-turned-whistleblower, and her inspiring true story of abuse, escape, and redemption. "'Master, would you brand me? It would be an honor.' From the second I climb onto the table, acutely aware that I am lying in the sweat of my sisters, I will have blocked that out. Lying there completely naked, I am at my most vulnerable but determined to prove my strength. I try to keep my legs closed as my body wills itself to protect my most private area. . . . I tell myself: I am a warrior. I birthed a human. I can handle pain. But nothing could have ever prepared me for the feel of this fire on my skin." Scarred is Sarah Edmondson's compelling memoir of her recruitment into the NXIVM cult, the 12 years she spent within the organization (during which she enrolled over 2,000 members and entered DOS—NXIVM's "secret sisterhood"), her breaking point, and her harrowing fight to get out, to expose Keith Raniere and the leadership, to help others, and to heal. Complete with personal photographs, Scarred is also an eye-opening story about abuses of power, female trust and friendship, and how sometimes the search to be "better" can override everything else. • In the tradition of Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman, Escape by Carolyn Jessop, and Troublemaker by Leah Remini • This tell-all follows Sarah from the moment she takes her first NXIVM seminar, to the invitation she accepts from her best friend, Lauren Salzman, into DOS, to her journey toward become a key witness in the federal case against its founders • Evokes questions about friendship, ethics, good and evil, making it a brilliant selection for book clubs Audio edition read by the author.
Download or read book Born into the Children of God Part 3 of 3 My life in a religious sex cult and my struggle for survival on the outside written by Natacha Tormey and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2014-07-03 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Born into the Children of God can either be read as a full-length eBook or in 3 serialised eBook-only parts. This is PART 3 of 3.
Download or read book The Goodbye Man written by Jeffery Deaver and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-03-30 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE INSPIRATION FOR THE CBS ORIGINAL SERIES TRACKER In this twisty thriller from the New York Times bestselling master of suspense, reward-seeker Colter Shaw infiltrates a sinister cult after learning that the only way to get somebody out...is to go in. In the wilderness of Washington State, expert tracker Colter Shaw has located two young men accused of a terrible hate crime. But when his pursuit takes a shocking and tragic turn, Shaw becomes desperate to discover what went so horribly wrong and if he is to blame. Shaw's search for answers leads him to a shadowy organization that bills itself as a grief support group. But is it truly it a community that consoles the bereaved? Or a dangerous cult with a growing body count? Undercover, Shaw joins the mysterious group, risking everything despite the fact that no reward is on offer. He soon finds that some people will stop at nothing to keep their secrets hidden...and to make sure that he or those close to him say “goodbye” forever.
Download or read book House of Prayer Den of Thieves written by Loistene Bradeen and published by . This book was released on 2019-12-21 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a memoir and testimony about the author's escape from an abusive cult. It provides insight and powerful lessons learned from the horrific events that took place. This book also contains real testimonies of other survivors of this same cult. All experiences shared about the cult leader, Jimmy, and how he preys on the vulnerable lives that he has influenced are eye-opening, very traumatic yet surreal, and strikingly similar to the late Jim Jones and his cult, The People's Temple. The survivors of this cult, House of Prayer, are fearful that Jimmy will follow in Jones' footsteps unto death taking his followers with him.
Download or read book Lessons From A Cult Survivor written by Claire Ashman and published by . This book was released on 2018-08-06 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One woman's story of being brought up in a strict religious sect then going on to spend a decade in one of Australia's Largest Doomsday cults.
