Book overview
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER WITH FOUR MILLION COPIES SOLD - "A heartbreaking, heartwarming, best-in-years memoir about striding beyond the limitations of birth and environment into a better life."--USA Today
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
- #6 New York Times Readers Pick for the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century
- One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of the Year
- Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award, and PEN/Jean Stein Book Award
- Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, O: The Oprah Magazine, Time, NPR, Good Morning America, San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, and many more
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 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
- #6 New York Times Readers Pick for the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century
- One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of the Year
- Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award, and PEN/Jean Stein Book Award
- Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, O: The Oprah Magazine, Time, NPR, Good Morning America, San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, and many more
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