#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 • 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
