Description

Its a dark story that forced me to think more expansively about what constitutes a cult The New York Times Ernesto Londoo

Although this is Mestyanek Youngs first time narrating listeners will appreciate hearing this deeply personal story told by the author herself Share with fans of Tara Westovers Educated and Deborah Feldmans Unorthodox Memoir readers will want to check this one out Library Journal

A painful and propulsive memoir delivered in the honest tones of a woman who didnt always think shed live to tell her story The New York Times

This program is read by the author

In the vein of Educated and The Glass Castle Daniella Mestyanek Youngs Uncultured is more than a memoir about an exceptional upbringing but about a woman who no matter the lack of tools given to her is determined to overcome

Behind the tall foreboding gates of a commune in Brazil Daniella Mestyanek Young was raised in the religious cult The Children of God also known as The Family as the daughter of highranking members Her greatgrandmother donated land for one of The Familys first communes in Texas Her mother at thirteen was forced to marry the leader and served as his secretary for many years Beholden to The Familys strict rules Daniella suffers physical emotional and sexual abusemasked as godly discipline and divine loveand is forbidden from getting a traditional education

At fifteen years old fed up with The Family and determined to build a better and freer life for herself Daniella escapes to Texas There she bravely enrolls herself in high school and excels later graduating as valedictorian of her college class then electing to join the military to begin a career as an intelligence officer where she believes she will finally belong

But she soon learns that her new worldsurrounded by men on the sands of Afghanistanlooks remarkably similar to the one she desperately tried to leave behind

Told in a beautiful propulsive voice and with cleareyed honesty Uncultured explores the dangers unleashed when harmful group mentality goes unrecognized and is emblematic of the many ways women have to contort themselves to survive

A Macmillan Audio production from St Martins Press