Escape by Carolyn Jessop (with Laura Palmer)

"Escape. The moment had come. I had been watching and waiting for months. The time was right. I had to act fast and without fear. I could not afford to fail. Nine lives were at stake: those of my eight children and my own."

Thus begins Carolyn Jessop's Escape, leaving the only world she had ever known. Her first 35 years were spent as a member of a religious sect called the FLDS or the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This book details Carolyn's life from her sixth generation birth into a polygamist family through her early morning flight and subsequent court battle for the custody of her children.

At eighteen, Carolyn became the 4th wife of 55-year-old Merril Jessop, a leader in the FLDS. During the next fifteen years, Carolyn would give birth to eight of Merril's children. When Carolyn fled, Merril had 7 wives and 54 children.

The principal of celestial marriage, or polygamy, is the one tenet which defines the FLDS and separates this sect from the conventional Mormon Church, or Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Celestial marriage mandates a man to have multiple wives to do well in heaven eventually becoming a god and earning his own planet. The husband is the "priesthood" head of his family.

Except for those living in this community, no one would consider Carolyn's life here to be "normal." Instead of playing Hide and Seek, children in the FLDS played a game called "Apocalypse." Apocalypse starts with the children hiding from the "wicked" (wicked being any outsider to the FLDS beliefs). The wicked came to hunt the FLDS members down and kill them. The game continues with the children being saved by "resurrected Indians." These same Indians rescue the children when the government comes to kill them. Next, the children survive invasions by foreign countries by forming prayer circles. Then, they face and survive famine, only to be put do death if they are not wearing the proper "blessed" undergarments, more commonly known as long underwear. Although she learned and played this game as the "gospel," it would be years later before Carolyn realized the ridiculousness of surviving all of the earlier challenges in this game, only to be put to death for wearing the wrong clothes.

At 10, Carolyn was receiving daily beatings from her severely depressed mother. She quickly learned to become a specialist at studying and understanding her tormentors' behaviors. She learned their actions and adjusted her life in order to survive. She would carry these same survival skills into her adult life as her husband and several of her "sister-wives" became her physical and emotional abusers.

Carolyn had dreams of getting her education and becoming a Doctor. For a woman to be educated, the leader, or "prophet" of the FLDS would have to give his permission. At 2AM one morning, Carolyn's mother awakened her to speak with her father. Her father had talked to the prophet, and yes, she could be educated to become a teacher, not a doctor. Before she could continue her education though, the prophet's "revelation" was for her to be married to Merril Jessop.

In Carolyn's one-sided religion, women have no rights. Women live like this because they do not know any other way. They do not know they have any Constitutional rights. They have grown up knowing they would serve their husbands. They must strive to be in "perfect obedience" to their husband to "be in harmony" with him. Women can not achieve salvation on their own, their husband is their only road to salvation and to an afterlife. The husband is their "father" and their priesthood head. In Carolyn's polygamist family, the wives and children were nothing more than chattel to a tyrannical, power-hungry, abusive husband. The mere thought of calling Merril Jessop a priest or religious man, let alone a father or husband, makes me nauseous. He is a terrorist to his wives and his children.

Reporting abuse to local authorities would only bring more hardship and abuse. The local police are FLDS men loyal to the prophet. The only way to report the abuse without retribution was to flee. Leaving this very closed community undetected, with or without her children was almost unthinkable. Carolyn risked her salvation, her life and the salvation and lives of her children by leaving. She knew if she were caught, there would be untold, terrible "consequences." As a wife of an FLDS leader, her leaving meant she and her children would be hunted down by Merril and his posse of community men.

After escaping this cult, to try to afford her children better protection, Carolyn went to the Attorney General in Utah with details of the abuses in this community. Much later, after more investigation and indictments were issued, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said "I have a corner of my state that is worse than [under] the Taliban."

Carolyn's story includes unbelievable incidents in her community and family of physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Certainly this book is most believable because it is so unbelievable. No one could make up the mind-set, cruelty, experiences and most often blind, brainwashed devotion detailed in this book.

To say I enjoyed this book is simply not the right statement. I am very glad I chose to read it. I believe every American needs and should read this book. Maybe I was naive. Ashamedly, I never knew. To come to the realization that women and children living in today's United States are collectively being abused, denied freedom and their Constitutional rights, is shocking.

Yes, I watched HBO's Big Love. Actually, I never missed an episode. I was also quite enthralled late last year with the Warren Jeffs' trial on CourtTV. At the time, I was a little surprised he was convicted. Now, I know the circumstances and the truth about the religious cult Warren Jeffs led. Warren Jeffs was "the prophet" of the FLDS when Carolyn escaped. He deserves punishment more severe than incarceration. He brought many brutal directives to Carolyn's community and religion. Carolyn's book was published after Jeffs was arrested, but before his trial. FLDS followers still consider Warren Jeffs to be their "prophet." Around the time of his arrest it was rumored he had 180 wives. (According to the last count in Escape, Merril Jessop had 14 wives and 40 children young enough to still be living at home.)

I could not put this book down. But, I warn you, be prepared for an entirely different look at life in "the land of the free."

Note: I have purposefully not used capital letters to start many of the words in this post which, to be grammatically correct, should be capitalized. Normally, these words would note esteemed or honored positions in Christianity, religion and family. In this text, those holding these titles are not honorable or esteemed.

(ADDITIONAL INFO: After reading this book, I have been researching the FLDS, some of the members listed in Escape, and the Lost Boys - teenage boys kicked out of the FLDS community for some minor infraction, when in truth, the FLDS leaders did not want their competition to take the younger women as wives. I wanted to find out what is currently happening within the FLDS and if law enforcement and/or government authorities are protecting the women and children. I do not think it fair or appropriate to add this additional information to the review of Carolyn Jessop's book. Within the next few days, I will write about the new information I have found in my personal blog, http://www.pointswelltaken.blogspost.com/.)

Escape
Author: Carolyn Jessop with Laura Palmer
Available formats:
Hardback, October 2007, 432 pages, approximate cost $18
Audio, Compact Disc, Abridged, read by Alison Fraser, October 2007, approximate cost $18
eBook, October 2007, 304 pages, approximate cost $18

To learn more about the author Carolyn Jessop, visit http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=75833.