Breaking Free: How I Escaped Polygamy, the FLDS Cult, and My Father, Warren Jeffs

In this straightforward memoir, Jeffs offers a brave portrait of her life as the daughter of Warren Jeffs, one of the most notorious and reviled religious leaders in recent history. The author and her five children left the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) in 2015; her former husband remains in the church and has not spoken to her or their children since. Jeffs endured a harrowing childhood as one of Warren's "favorite" children. As a girl, she was frequently abused, sexually and emotionally, by her father, known as "The Prophet." When she was 18, her father arranged a polygamous marriage between her and a stranger, with whom she later had five children. Not long after Jeffs's first child was born, Warren was placed on the FBI's Most Wanted list; in 2006, he was arrested. When his Texas ranch was raided two years later, his followers became even more convinced that he was their chosen prophet, though Jeffs had long been unconvinced. After Warren received a life sentence in 2011, his edicts from prison grew increasingly bizarre. Meanwhile, Rachel's resolve to escape the clutches of the FLDS deepened.