Church of Lies

by Flora Jessop, Paul T. Brown

Overview

From the Preface:

"My name is Flora Jessop. I've been called apostate, vigilante, and crazy bitch, and maybe I am. But some people call me a hero, and I'd like to think they're right too. If I am a hero, maybe it's because every time I can play a part in saving a child or a woman from a life of servitude and degradation, I'm saving a little piece of me, too.

I was one of twenty-eight children born to my dad and his three wives. Indoctrinated to believe that the outside world was evil, and that I resided among the righteous, I was destined to marry a man chosen for me by the Prophet. I would then live in harmony with my sister-wives, bear many children, and obey and serve my future husband in this life and throughout eternity. But my innocence didn't last long. While still a child, I understood that the church of the righteous was nothing but a church of lies.

When I was eight years old my father sexually molested me for the first time, raping me when I was twelve. I tried to kill myself. Beaten, molested, taunted, and abused by family members alleging they only wanted to save my soul became a daily routine, I ran from this abuse more than once in my early teens—even attempting to cross the desert on foot. My family hunted me down. I thought government agencies would provide me safety if I reported my father. Instead, police and social services colluded with the FLDS to return me to my family and I ended up back inside polygamy, right where I started."

Flora goes on from there to tell the dramatic true story of how she ultimately escaped and has been fighting against frustrating obstacles with hard fought successes in rescuing women and children from the FLDS. It's a story you can't put down.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470565469
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	01/20/2009
Pages:	328
Sales rank:	634,844
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Flora Jessop has recently appeared as one of the leading spokewomen on cult of polygamy on CNN, Fox, Nancy Grace, USA Today and elsewhere regarding the controversial rescue and removal of 400 children from the FLDS stronghold in Texas.
Has 15,500 separate pages in Google related to her activities as the main force behind Warren Jeffs' arrest and conviction.'Appears in Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven as a stunning and dramatic young girl who grew up in the notorious Warren Jeffs' polygamy cult. At 13 she'took her sexual abusive father to court, but the judge called her "a liar". After two years of solitary confinement at her uncle's home, she was forced to marry a cousin, but escaped shortly thereafter.
Spent five years on the road as a fugitive in hiding, then married, settled down and put heranger to work, trying to rescue her sister Ruby Jessop (still in cult confinement) and eventually gaining widespread support for her action oriented helpthechildbrides.com and Child Protection Project.
Has appeared and been interviewed on 60 Minutes (CBS), America's Most Wanted with John Walsh, Dr. Phil, Deborah Norville, O'Reilly, Nancy Grace, Larry King Live, Court TVV, the LA Times, New York Times,Time Magazine, Newsweek, People and in several documentaries about Mormon polygamy and the criminal cult of Warren Jeffs. She has been approached by several movie companies and book publishers, but never before now agreed to tell her story.

Paul T. Brown, co-author's-most recent book Escape in Iraq: The Thomas Hammil Story, was on the New York Times Bestseller List.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments.

Introduction: My Name Is Flora Jessop.

Part One: Pligville.

1. The End of Innocence.

2. Home Sweet Home.

3. The Rape.

4. The Great Escape.

5. Little Runaway.

6. The Prisoner.

Part Two: Apostate.

7. Married.

8. Gone for Good.

9. No Boundaries.

10. The End of the Road.

11. Shauna.

12. No One’s Property.

13. Family.

Part Three: Outlaw.

14. Ruby.

15. Lost and Found.

16. Changes.

17. Rescuing the Fawns.

18. Running Away Again.

19. Laurene.

20. No Sympathy for the Devil.

Part Four: No More Pain.

21. Fighting On.

Epilogue.

Notes.

About the Authors.

Index.

Editorial Reviews

It is difficult for any person not affiliated with a group like the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) to imagine the motivation for living in such a system. Jessop grew up within the strictures of the FLDS cult, subjected to its forced marriages and rampant sexual abuse. Her story is a harrowing but inspiring account of one woman's determination to break free. She relates in rather stark terms the horror of growing up in the polygamous community, the many pleasures she was denied as a child as her elders pursued a pseudo-holiness, forbidding the joys of childhood but engaging in horrible acts of pedophilia. Following her own liberation, she has worked tirelessly and fearlessly to liberate those who want out of the group. Readers will be repelled at some of what Jessop has to say, but in the end, they will be heartened by her efforts to free others in the grip of the FLDS leadership.A (Feb.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly

In this autobiography, Jessop chronicles her upbringing in a polygamist community and her eventual escape and crusade to rescue other women from plural marriages and abuse. A former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and controversial antipolygamy activist, Jessop, with the help of Brown (coauthor, Escape in Iraq), tells her story unevenly, finely detailing certain events and glossing over others. Her unorthodox childhood is well documented, and her tales of brainwashing, kidnapping, and physical, mental, and emotional abuse are harrowing. Later chapters detail her rebellion against the FLDS, her marriage to her cousin at age 16, her fight to rescue her sister from the church, and her battle against church and state authorities on behalf of women living in polygamist societies. Jessop's story is gripping and her work admirable, but the writing is choppy and slightly formulaic. The dialog is stilted, and Jessop, despite her passion, does not come across as a particularly sympathetic figure. Nonetheless, the story is compelling and timely and will be of interest to some public library audiences.
—Julie Biando Edwards

Library Journal

"For those who might feel polygamy is harmless, I suggest they read the just published book, "Church of Lies," by Flora Jessop and Paul T. Brown….Hers is not a pretty story,…But it merits reading as its core message is credible and valid." —The Examiner, February 21-23, 2009

"Church of Lies… is a compelling and heartbreaking — but hopeful — read." (Kansas City Star)

It is difficult for any person not affiliated with a group like the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) to imagine the motivation for living in such a system. Jessop grew up within the strictures of the FLDS cult, subjected to its forced marriages and rampant sexual abuse. Her story is a harrowing but inspiring account of one woman’s determination to break free. She relates in rather stark terms the horror of growing up in the polygamous community, the many pleasures she was denied as a child as her elders pursued a pseudo-holiness, forbidding the joys of childhood but engaging in horrible acts of pedophilia. Following her own liberation, she has worked tirelessly and fearlessly to liberate those who want out of the group. Readers will be repelled at some of what Jessop has to say, but in the end, they will be heartened by her efforts to free others in the grip of the FLDS leadership. (Feb.) (Publishers Weekly, December 15, 2008)

From the Publisher