#1 NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER - One of the most acclaimed books of our time: an unforgettable memoir about a young woman who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University `Extraordinary . . . an act of courage and self-invention.`--The New York Times NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW - ONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA`S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR - BILL GATES`S HOLIDAY READING LIST - FINALIST: National Book Critics Circle`s Award In Autobiography and John Leonard Prize For Best First Book - PEN/Jean Stein Book Award - Los Angeles Times Book Prize Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara`s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she`d traveled too far, if there was still a way home. `Beautiful and propulsive . . . Despite the singularity of [Westover`s] childhood, the questions her book poses are universal: How much of ourselves should we give to those we love? And how much must we betray them to grow up?`--Vogue NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post - O: The Oprah Magazine - Time - NPR - Good Morning America - San Francisco Chronicle - The Guardian - The Economist - Financial Times - Newsday - New York Post - theSkimm - Refinery29 - Bloomberg - Self - Real Simple - Town & Country - Bustle - Paste - Publishers Weekly - Library Journal - LibraryReads - Book Riot - Pamela Paul, KQED - New York Public Library