I'm not always a lover of non-fiction but there have been some recent exceptions to that (Unbroken, The Glass Castle and Thunderdog immediately come to mind). If you liked any of those books, you will probably enjoy this one as well.
This is the story of Tara Westover who grew up in rural Idaho. Her father, a devout Mormon, doesn't believe in government, medicine, or education. As a girl, Tara is being raised to be a wife and mother. Her father owns a junkyard and often puts all his children to work there, frequently in unsafe conditions. Tara is the youngest of seven children and by the time she comes along, homeschooling has been mostly forgotten and she is put to work in the junkyard, or occasionally helping her mother as the local midwife.
Eventually, at the urging of one of her brothers, Tara takes the ACT and earns a scholarship to university. Once there she realizes how unprepared she is for life in the real world and how little knowledge she has of anything that wasn't on the ACT. She learns how to learn and becomes a dedicated student.
At the same time her family is in turmoil, their unsafe working/living conditions cause several family members to be injured in accidents. The family doesn't believe in modern medicine (Tara never even took Tylenol until she was at a friend's house as a teenager) so many of them don't receive the proper care for their injuries. She suffers horrible abuse at the hands of one of her brothers and her parents turn a blind eye to it.
In spite of all this, Tara rises above her circumstances to move on to a life outside of Idaho. Her strength and resilience are inspiring.
Some members of her family are speaking out against the book so it can be hard to know where the truth lies. However I still found this to be a compelling read (I read most of it on a 2-hour flight yesterday). I highly recommend it and would love to talk it over with anyone who has read it.
