Child Brides

by Western A Carole

CHILD BRIDES is an illuminating, intimate story of Julia Jefferson, who on her thirteenth birthday becomes a polygamous wife. In a religion where men have absolute control, Julia retaliates and saves her sanity by writing her memoirs. Through her journals, we experience the deprivation, jealousy, humiliation and abuse of being one of many women serving the sexual fantasies of one man. We learn how she and her daughters finally realize they are valuable human beings as they make their dangerous escape to the outside world and freedom.

122 pages, Paperback

First published December 30, 2005

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't think this was very well written, and I felt a little cheated because when I bought this book I thought it was going to be a genuine, real diary from a person who lived in polygamy. Instead, it is a fictionalized account based on interviews the author did. I've read books about polygamy before, ones by women who actually escaped from the lifestyle, and every time I read about what the women and children go through in those societies, it makes me very angry and very sad. The law should crack down more and these people. The problem is, the women are brainwashed from the time they are very young that they have no inherent value and that they must obey the men in everything. It's a terrible type of religious brainwashing, and the lives for these little girls were often married at 13 or 14 years of age to men in their 30s and 40s, are horrible. One thing that bothers me that I've mentioned in reviews for other books about this topic is that so many of these women are collecting welfare, thousands of dollars every year, as single mothers because the states don't recognize their marriages, while their prophets live in million-dollar homes and the cult leaders themselves are very wealthy. They are cheating the government and I can't figure out why conservatives, who are always attacking the "welfare state", don't come out against their ways of living. Reading the book I was many times horrified and had I not read other books about this topic I would've been shocked that such things could happen in the United States. It's like what you would find in some third world country or Muslim country. Truly horrifying.

[Love · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was my third attempt at this kind of book. I am sorry to say I just can not get into them. Maybe it's just the ones I have tried to read. I think it will be my last attempt.