The author of The New York Times bestseller Escape returns with a moving and inspirational tale of her life after she heroically fled the cult she’d been raised in, her hard-won new identity and happiness, and her determination to win justice for the crimes committed against her family.This book was amazing. I had purchased Jessop's first book, Escape, shortly after it was released. I enjoyed that book as well. When I saw that she had written a second book, I knew that I had to read it. The book is separated into two parts. The first part is centered around the recent raid of the YFZ ranch in Texas. She recounts the good and bad parts of that raid, the end result, and also sprinkles in plenty of flashbacks from her past in the cult. The second part describes not only how she found the strength to leave the cult, but how she was able to so completely transform her life.
In 2003, Carolyn Jessop, 35, 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. Jessop detailed the story of her harrowing flight and the shocking conditions that sparked it in her 2007 memoir, Escape. Reveling in her new found identity as a bestselling author, a devoted mom, and a loving companion to the wonderful man in her life, Jessop thought she had put her past firmly behind her.
Then, on April 3, 2008, it came roaring back in full view of millions of television viewers across America. On that date, 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, to which 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, Jessop once more was drawn into the fray, this time as an expert called upon to help authorities understand the customs and beliefs of the extremist religious sect with which they were dealing.
In Triumph, Jessop tells the real, and even more harrowing, story behind the raid and sets the public straight on much of the damaging misinformation that flooded the media in its aftermath. She recounts the setbacks (the tragic decision of the Supreme Court of Texas to allow the children in state custody to return to their parents) as well as the successes (the fact that evidence seized in the raid is the basis for the string of criminal trials of FLDS leaders that began in October 2009 and will continue throughout 2010), all while weaving in details of her own life since the publication of her first book. These include 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.
In the book’s second half, Jessop shares with readers the sources of the strength that allowed her not only to survive and eventually break free of FLDS mind control, but also to flourish in her new life. The tools of her transformation range from powerful female role models (grandmothers on both sides) to Curves fitness clubs (a secret indulgence that put her in touch with her body) to her college education (rare among FLDS women). With her characteristic honesty and steadfast sense of justice, Jessop, a trained educator who taught elementary school for seven years, shares her strong opinions on such controversial topics as homeschooling and the need for the court system to hold “deadbeat dads” accountable. (Among Jessop’s recent victories is a court decision that ordered her ex-husband to pay years of back child support.) An extraordinary woman who has overcome countless challenges and tragedies in her life, Jessop shows us in this book how, in spite of everything, she has triumphed—and how you can, too, no matter what adversity you face.
A brief history, for those who have zero idea what I am talking about. On March 29th, 2008, CPS in Texas had received a phone call from a girl named Sarah Barlow. She claimed that she had been forced into a marriage at the age of 16, became pregnant, and was then raped and beaten by her husband, 34 years her senior. What ended up happening was this - the authorities raided the ranch, and unable to find this 'Sarah Barlow,' had taken 439 children into protective custody.
At the beginning, the women and children were allowed to stay together, but when that proved to be too chaotic, the children were separated from their children (except in cases where the child was 18 months or younger, I believe.) This is the point when many people remember seeing video footage of FLDS women crying, holding up signs that said things like *help us! they stole our children...* The funny thing about this- none of the women filmed had actually had their children taken from them. It appears as if the FLDS had other women assemble, and basically cry that their children had been taken... Hmmm...
The whole situation was really just sad, and IMO, a great example of how f-ed up the *system* can be:( IN the end, all of the children were returned to the ranch. Every single one. Many FLDS mothers had been working with the state. Many of them had agreed that they wanted to get out and keep their children safe, but when the state ordered the children back to their homes, the mothers quickly changed their tune. They said that because God had obviously delivered them, they did not need help anymore. Many, many children (while in state custody) talked about the abusive situations that they were living in. They were promised safety from these people, only to be turned right back to the people who had been abusing them. This fed into what the FLDS teach their members about how evil the outside world is. How the people outside are all of the devil, and only want to hurt them. That is exactly what happened. The children were safe, and many of them trusted the people they were with. And then it all fell through:(
Here is a summary of the investigation's results (copied directly from the book, pp124-5)
12 girls were victims of sexual abuse and neglect at the YFZ ranch with the knowledge of their parents. The 12 girls were "spiritually " married at ages ranging form 12 to 15, and seven of those girls had one or more children. The 12 confirmed victims of sexual abuse were around 43 girls removed from the ranch from the ages of 12 to 17, which means that more than one out of every four pubescent girls on the ranch was in an underage marriage.Unbelievable. Just ridiculous. Out of all of those families, 146 families, only 12 were found to be safe. So, the state returned children to 134 potentially abusive households??? That is just pure insanity. You can only hope that some of these women saw, for however brief a moment, that there are people who can help them, would they ever want to leave.
262 other children (in addition to the 12 girls) were subjected to neglect under Texas law. In these instances, the parent failed to remove their child from a situation in which the child would be exposed to sexual abuse committed against another child within their families or households.
124 designated perpetrators: Designated perpetrators included men who engages in underage marriages; parents who failed to take reasonable steps to prevent an underage daughter from marrying an older adult male; and parents who placed their child in, or refused to remove their child from, a situation in which the child would be exposed to sexual abuse committed against another child.
Of the 146 families investigated, 62 percent had a confirmed finding of abuse and neglect, including one or more children in the family. The final disposition of the 146 CPS cases involving families at the YFZ ranch is listed below:
- 91 families: Reason to believe CPS determined that it was reasonable to believe that one of both parents in the family sexually abused or neglected a child in the family by entering into an illegal underage marriage with a child; failing to take reasonable steps to prevent the illegal underage marriage of a child; or failing to remove one of more children in the family from a situation in which they would be exposed to an ongoing underage marriage in their family or household.
- 12 families: Ruled out CPS determined that it was reasonable to conclude that no child in the family was abused or neglected.
- 39 families: Unable to determine There is not a preponderance of the available evidence to find that abuse or neglect did occur, or to rule it out.
- 1 family: Unable to complete CPS was unable to complete the investigation due to inability to locate the subjects of the allegations.
- 3 families: Administratively closed After reviewing the information received, CPS determined that an investigation was not received.
The stories that Jessop tells about her past are just heartbreaking. I know in a past post, I wrote that I do not believe that ALL polygamists are like this. And that is true. The FLDS is a gigantic, abusive cult. The things that go on behind their closed doors are just unreal. You can hardly believe that it is true, when you hear it:(
I would recommend this book to anyone. Actually, I would recommend anyone who in interested to read Jessop's first book, Escape, first. It it the story of her life, and escape, from the cult. It helps to know a little about her history, about the inner workings of the FLDS, while reading Triumph.
There was one area that I read and disagreed with Jessop. She has a strong opinion about homeschooling. About how in many states the regulations are almost non-existent, or so very low... Some of the things that she was saying about homeschooling made me really angry. But I had to remember that she was mostly concerned about how homeschooling is used in groups like the FLDS. She later did confirm this in the book. She (as well as most people would be, I assume) knows that the FLDS use the lax homeschooling laws to ensure that they do not really have to educate their children. And any education they do receive is so heavily meshed with crappy religious training. So instead of being educated, these children are being indoctrinated. Considering the level of indoctrination, and ABUSE going on, I can understand her frustration in this matter. But aside from that, she said some pretty stupid things.
Like how it is so very difficult for anyone to teach multiple grade levels at the same time. (um no, not really...)
How she thinks a trained teacher is the best person to be teaching, not a parent. (again, not really...)
Why would any homeschooler object to regulations, scrutiny, and competency tests - both for the parent and child?? (ahh... because the state has no business telling me how to educate my child, thankyouverymuch...)
Sticking to the stiff schedule of public schools teaches children skills like waking up early and getting ready...( and those can obviously ONLY be taught through public school.... silly me...)
and so on, and so forth. I know I am extreme in my homeschooling beliefs. But still. I guess to anyone else, it might look like i do have a double standard in this area. Sure, but it is only because there is rampant abuse going on in one situation, and nothing else going on in the other. (in case you are left wondering, it is the FLDS with the abuse, not me-lol) So yeah, I disagree with pretty much everything that she said about homeschooling.
But, I did not get this book to read about her (crazy) homeschooling thoughts. I got it to read about her experiences in the cult, about what really went on during the raid, to see how her life has improved since she fled the FLDS. Great read. Go read it. It is heartbreaking, but more people need to know about the crazy outlandish abuses that go on inside of this cult...
Book Count : 5
Word Count : 1215
