
Stolen Innocence
My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free
Elissa Wall(Author)
Harper Element (Publisher)
Published on 1. September 2008
Book
Hardback
448 pages
978-0-00-729112-0 (ISBN)
Description
A tale of survival and freedom, Stolen Innocence is the story of one heroic woman who stood up for what was right and reclaimed her life.
In September 2007, a packed courtroom in St. George, Utah, sat hushed as Elissa Wall, the star witness against polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs, gave captivating testimony of how Jeffs forced her to marry her first cousin at the age of fourteen. This harrowing and vivid account proved to be the most compelling evidence against Jeffs, showing the harsh realities of the lengths to which Jeffs went in order to control the sect's women.
Now, in this courageous memoir, Elissa Wall tells the incredible and inspirational story of how she emerged from the confines of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and helped bring one of America's most notorious criminals to justice. Offering a child's perspective on life in the FLDS, Wall discusses her tumultuous youth, and explains how Warren Jeffs's influence over the church twisted its already rigid beliefs in dangerous new directions.
Once she was married, Wall's childhood shattered as she was obligated to follow Jeffs's directives and submit to her husband in "mind, body, and soul." With little money and no knowledge of the outside world, she was trapped and forced to endure the pain and abuse of her loveless relationship, which eventually pushed her to spend nights sleeping in her truck rather than face the tormentor in her bed.
In September 2007, a packed courtroom in St. George, Utah, sat hushed as Elissa Wall, the star witness against polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs, gave captivating testimony of how Jeffs forced her to marry her first cousin at the age of fourteen. This harrowing and vivid account proved to be the most compelling evidence against Jeffs, showing the harsh realities of the lengths to which Jeffs went in order to control the sect's women.
Now, in this courageous memoir, Elissa Wall tells the incredible and inspirational story of how she emerged from the confines of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and helped bring one of America's most notorious criminals to justice. Offering a child's perspective on life in the FLDS, Wall discusses her tumultuous youth, and explains how Warren Jeffs's influence over the church twisted its already rigid beliefs in dangerous new directions.
Once she was married, Wall's childhood shattered as she was obligated to follow Jeffs's directives and submit to her husband in "mind, body, and soul." With little money and no knowledge of the outside world, she was trapped and forced to endure the pain and abuse of her loveless relationship, which eventually pushed her to spend nights sleeping in her truck rather than face the tormentor in her bed.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers
Illustrations
(2 x 8pp plates)
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 141 mm
Thickness: 34 mm
Weight
240 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-00-729112-0 (9780007291120)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Elissa Wall
Stolen Innocence
My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free
E-Book
03/2009
HarperTrue
€4.29
Available for download
Person
Elissa Wall is a former member of The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the FLDS) who was forced into marriage at age fourteen. She left the FLDS at age eighteen and she currently resides in the US with her two children and her husband, Lamont.