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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 | Author: Elissa Wall
Creators: Lisa Pulitzer, Renee Raudman
Publisher: Tantor Media
Category: Book
List Price: $29.99
Buy New: $17.84
You Save: $12.15 (41%)
New (16) Used (4) from $17.84
Avg. Customer Rating:  74 reviews
Sales Rank: 1062499
Format: Audiobook, Cd
Media: Audio CD
Edition: MP3 Una
Number Of Items: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 1400157900
Dewey Decimal Number: 289.3092
EAN: 9781400157907
ASIN: 1400157900
Publication Date: May 14, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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| • | Hardcover - Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs | | • | Paperback - Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs | | • | Kindle Edition - Stolen Innocence | | • | Audio CD - Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs | | • | Mass Market Paperback - Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs | | • | Audio CD - Stolen Innocence (Library Edition): My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs |
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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 69 more reviews...
 Elissa Wall is a pilar of strength to women of all walks! September 1, 2008
I just finished reading Stolen Innocents by Elissa Wall. From the moment I opened the front cover I was pulled into a story of strength and very real trauma that Elissa was subjected to in her childhood. Elissa's account of her life makes your heart ache for her and makes you feel as if you were right there with her but like many other people in the story unable to help her and you are left feeling as desperate as she did. The strength and survival instinct Elissa displayed is amazing. I encourage anyone to read this book, there are lessons for ever man and woman. Elissa is a role model of what can be achieved when you are trusting of the process and are not willing to be defeated! A portion of the proceeds from the sales of this book go to MJ Fund , a fund designed to help other people in the situation. That alone is a great reason to purchase this book. God bless you Elissa, and thank you for filling my heart and showing women not to back down and be defeated.
VERY GOOD BOOK September 1, 2008
I felt this book was a very good book very well written......one can only imagaine what that poor girl went through.....peace be with her!!!! overall it was a very good book!!!!
 One Fascinating and Shocking Story! August 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was a long story of how Elissa grew up in the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints community, how her life was controlled by a man called "The Prophet" whom she was taught to believe spoke for God and how she eventually broke free. She was forced to marry at age 14 against her will, was raped and finally left the community and brought charges against "The Prophet." This book gives the reader an inside look into the workings of a polygamous cult and shows how difficult it is for people to leave. It is shocking that this really happened in America in recent times.
Stolen Innocence August 28, 2008
I've recently read three books on life in the polygamous sect, the FDLS, and this is by far the most readable of the three. Elissa Wall's story is contemporary. She recounts the mental and physical pain of living under the leadership of Warren Jeffs and the difficulty of breaking away from a religious community in which one has been raised. A fast read, this is a fascinating book that gives insight into the recent court cases concerning this fundamental group.
Courageous Story About Overcoming Abuse and Brainwashing August 26, 2008
Elissa was forced to marry her 19-year-old first cousin at age 14 while living in a polygamous sect. Eventually a nearby stranger helped her break free at age 18, after which she provided crucial court testimony against sect leader Warren Jeffs.
Elissa remembers when her father, a respected geologist, engineer and entrepreneur, obtained his third wife. Having three wives was required to achieve the highest level of heaven.
Two wives had already created a climate of suspicion and distrust involving issues such as parenting style, spending priorities, and the access to the lone husband. Sect fathers lived in fear of local prophets - if considered a threat to the faith they could be expelled from the colony and lose both their family and home. Not being able to bring peace to a home could also qualify for expulsion. (This happened to Elissa's father, who then spent much of his life attempting to regain them.) The sect prophet also had the power to compel wage-earners to quit their job and move closer, even to sell a business to designated buyers (eg. the prophet's relatives), with most of the proceeds going to the church.
Members were expected to dedicate Saturdays laboring on churchwork projects. Outside "non-worthy" books and TV were banned.
There were 22 children in the family at the time. Elissa went to private sect school in a converted 20+ bedroom home. Her mother was an herbalist, and as a consequence Elissa rarely saw a doctor. Her older sister was married to the 81-year-old prophet.
Women had no rights vs. a husband. Elissa eventually recognized that getting married and having children was a sect means of disciplining - she would then be under the threat of having her own children taken away. Regardless, by age 16 she had had 2 miscarriages and a stillbirth.
Eventually the people Jeffs had abused got together for revenge; they saw Elissa as a valuable tool to be used through the courts. Jeffs was arrested, tried and convicted of being an accomplice to rape of a minor, and sentenced to a minimum of ten years in prison, with another trial scheduled in Arizona. However, it was also disconcerting to read that some in the community then refused to work with her husband.
Elissa is to be commended for rebelling, taking a public stand against Jeffs and the sect, and helping end or at least curtail these practices. Additional "good news" is that rebellion ran in her family - her brothers and several sisters also escaped, despite their parents' strong opposition.
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