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Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs | 
 enlarge | Authors: Elissa Wall, Lisa Pulitzer
Publisher: William Morrow
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $15.39
You Save: $10.56 (41%)
New (39) Used (11) Collectible (1) from $14.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  53 reviews
Sales Rank: 631
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.4 x 1.5
ISBN: 0061628018
Dewey Decimal Number: 289.3092
EAN: 9780061628016
ASIN: 0061628018
Publication Date: May 13, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Mint, brand new, and never opened to read. Ready to ship after 7/9 for your gift list or own collection. Not a BCE
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Product Description
In September 2007, a packed courtroom in St. George, Utah, sat hushed as Elissa Wall, the star witness against polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs, gave captivating testimony of how Jeffs forced her to marry her first cousin at age fourteen. This harrowing and vivid account proved to be the most compelling evidence against Jeffs, showing the harsh realities of this closed community and the lengths to which Jeffs went in order to control the sect's women. Now, in this courageous memoir, Elissa Wall tells the incredible and inspirational story of how she emerged from the confines of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and helped bring one of America's most notorious criminals to justice. Offering a child's perspective on life in the FLDS, Wall discusses her tumultuous youth, explaining how her family's turbulent past intersected with her strong will and identified her as a girl who needed to be controlled through marriage. Detailing how Warren Jeffs's influence over the church twisted its already rigid beliefs in dangerous new directions, Wall portrays the inescapable mind-set and unrelenting pressure that forced her to wed despite her repeated protests that she was too young. Once she was married, Wall's childhood shattered as she was obligated to follow Jeffs's directives and submit to her husband in "mind, body, and soul." With little money and no knowledge of the outside world, she was trapped and forced to endure the pain and abuse of her loveless relationship, which eventually pushed her to spend nights sleeping in her truck rather than face the tormentor in her bed. Yet even in those bleak times, she retained a sliver of hope that one day she would find a way out, and one snowy night that came in the form of a rugged stranger named Lamont Barlow. Their chance encounter set in motion a friendship and eventual romance that gave her the strength she needed to break free from her past and sever the chains of the church. But though she was out of the FLDS, Wall would still have to face Jeffs—this time in court. In Stolen Innocence, she delves into the difficult months on the outside that led her to come forward against him, working with prosecutors on one of the biggest criminal cases in Utah's history, so that other girls still inside the church might be spared her cruel fate. More than a tale of survival and freedom, Stolen Innocence is the story of one heroic woman who stood up for what was right and reclaimed her life.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 48 more reviews...
 Stolen Innocence - the best former FLDS story so far... July 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is the 4th book about polygamy I've read just since hearing all about the FLDS in the news recently. I have been fascinated by the stories and found it hard to believe that pologamy is still being practiced in 2008. I had no idea. Amazing.
Of all 4 books I have read so far, I would have to rate this book #1 and definitely far, far better than "escape" by Carlolyn Jessop (whom also was from the FLDS group). I wasted my money on that book, and as a result, waited to get this one from the library as I didn't want to throw away my money again. In fact, I almost didn't read this one at all. But in the end, I was too curious not to read it. I'm glad I did. This book is much much better written and I didn't notice any contradictions in the book.
This child of 14 had far more reasons to feel betrayed and upset. She was abused many times by her husband. I never really got the feeling anywhere in the book that she was trying to lay blame on everyone else, just her abuser and the men who helped him continue his abuse. In fact, several times she mentions how there are good people in this cult. This book seems to be much more honest. Even when there were fights in her family with the other Mothers in her growing up years, she was always able to see their side of the story and not totally lay the blame on them. Remarkable, especially for a child so young.
Also, given the fact that she tried multiple times (by requesting meetings with the "prophet" and pleading her case to her Mother and Step-Father) to prevent and later to get out of her forced marriage, especially at the tender age of 14 spoke a great deal about her. If I had been in the same shoes, I know, at age 14, that I would not have had the courage to stand up to the "prophet" as she did. What she did was remarkable and proves she did all she could at that tender age to try somehow, someway to get out of that marriage.
I agree with another reviewer that this book doesn't deal as much with pologamy as sexual abuse, however, she does give many details about her own family growing up with 3 Mothers. I think it was horrible how Warren Jeffs kept separating their Father from his family and just "gave" his wives and children to other men. That is outrageous.
I read the book in one afternoon, I couldn't lay it down it was so interesting. And, thankfully, this book didn't leave me with the impression that she thought she was above everyone else in their cult, and she never tried to run the others down. In fact, my only impression when finishing the book was that I wanted to weep for her. I hope she and her current husband find continued healing and that somehow she can reunite with her Mother and sisters again.
A cut above the other pologamy books I've read, and several notches above "Escape".
Very good book. Well worth reading.
Good Book July 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I enjoyed reading this book. Broke my heart to hear everything she and her family went through. I thought the first half of the book was a litle slow moving but otherwise I enjoyed it. She's a strong woman. I would recommend this book.
 Warren Jeffs Biggest Mistake July 8, 2008
A refreshing account of the young woman who brought about the downfall of Warren Jeff as leader/prophet of the polygamous sect of the Morman religion. In this day and age it is very difficult to understand how there can be this big body of people held captive to the controlling mindset of women being possessions. This book has it all - an understanding of brainwashing techniques and the lustful ways of the men that us them. Wake up USA! Read the book and weep at our ignorance.
The case that got the ball rolling. July 8, 2008
The awareness of the public regarding polygamy and its harmful effects has increased dramatically since early April, 2008, when Texas authorities raided the FLDS compound at El Dorado. Several books have been written in the last 2 years or so by women who managed to get out of the grip of FLDS or other fundamentalist polygamist sects. No doubt their sales have increased since this raid (at least I hope so.)
This book, though, is the one written by the young woman whose victimization ultimately led to the arrest and imprisonment of Warren Jeffs. You should read all these books. Save this one for last, however, because in a sense it is a culmination, of sorts, of the issues raised in the other stories.
Many elements of these various sagas are similar: raised from birth in the polygamist sect, the same game of mind control and behavior control by a handful of men acting without checks and balances, unhappiness and at times terror in the lives of the young victims (especially women) as they grow, become "married", and are at that point the chattel of their "husband" and expected to become an ever-willing baby making machine.
The story is so familiar, after reading one or two of these accounts.
Elissa's account is different. She figured out at a young age that something was grievously wrong with this culture and its mores. She knew instinctively that all of this was wrong and harmful. Even more astoundingly, she found the courage to get out. Talk about courage on a battlefield?--read this and see what courage it takes for a young girl to do what is right in the face of friends and family condemning her to Hell.
The lesson for the rest of us similar to that in the other accounts. One is never wrong to think for oneself; to question those who claim an absolute authority over a person's life and body (especially when they claim a religious authority to do so.)
Given the odds stacked against her, it is amazing that the outcome led to Jeffs' imprisonment. She is a remarkable woman. You should read her book.
 "keep sweet" and carry a big stick on the FLDS stairway to heaven July 7, 2008
Most mothers and fathers would lay down their lives to protect their children, but not the parents of Stolen Innocence author Elissa Wall (warning-upcoming spoilers). Her mother Sharon becomes the second (of three required) wife of Douglas Wall, who sires almost two-dozen children with the three of them. Dad's response to learning of abuse suffered by his toddler daughter: a verbal complaint to church leaders, which goes nowhere. At seven, (p 36) Elissa's 22-year-old sister learns she'll marry Rulon Jeffs, a man (at 81) old-enough to be her great-grandfather. Two years later (p 193), another sister, then nineteen, shares the same fate. At ten, Dad decides that her 18-year-old brother must leave the household (p 47) rather than attend "reform" (think forced labor church camp for naughty kids). Mom promptly ditches him by the side of the highway. Months later, after a series of warnings and punishments, God, through his mouthpiece Warren Jeffs, deems Douglas unworthy and "reassigns" Sharon and her children to a man with already over 15 wives and twice as many children. Fortunately, (p 101) God transforms the tainted blood and DNA of reassignees to match that of the worthy fatherly successor. By the time Sharon Wall learns that her daughter is to be married at fourteen, she knows just what to do: throw her to the wolves (after writing the obligatory complaint letter). (p 149) "This must be the will of God and the prophet," Mom tells her future rape victime daughter. Elissa respectfully, repeatedly questions the decision, but is ultimately forced to submit to the demands of the FLDS and, in spite of zero knowledge about the birds and the bees, the amorous advances of her first-cousin husband. Expectedly, Mother and absent BioFather do nothing. Fortunately, she saves herself with a little help from a friend.
Ms. Wall's story is compelling, but the writing of a middle-school educated girl is expectedly amateurish and stiff. In fact, the attempts at using challenging vocabulary and complicated phrasing only make things worse, (p 66) "...assuage my own overwhelming loneliness," (p 123) "A sick, heavy feeling crawled into my stomach...," (p 128) "...she cautioned, interrupting my stream of consciousness," (p 146) "...deep melancholy had taken over my mind," (p 154) "Sad thoughts permeated my mind and put me in a somber daze." Stolen Innocence won't be winning any literary awards, but it is an honest, forthright, firsthand account of one girl's memories of life within the FLDS. Good companion reads: Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis.
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