#1 NEW YORK TIMES WALL STREET JOURNAL AND BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER • One of the most acclaimed
books of our time: an unforgettable memoir about a young woman who kept out of school leaves
her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University “Extraordinary .
. . an act of courage and self-invention.”— The New York Times NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST
BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW • ONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE
BOOKS OF THE YEAR • BILL GATES’S HOLIDAY READING LIST • A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST NONFICTION BOOK
OF THE CENTURY • FINALIST: National Book Critics Circle’s Award In Autobiography and John
Leonard Prize For Best First Book • PEN Jean Stein Book Award • Los Angeles Times Book Prize
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. “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
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post O: The Oprah Magazine Time NPR Good
Morning America San Francisco Chronicle The Guardian The Economist Financial Times
Newsday New York Post theSkimm Refinery29 Bloomberg Self Real Simple Town & Country
Bustle Paste Publishers Weekly Library Journal LibraryReads Book Riot Pamela Paul KQED
New York Public Library
