Looking for books (fiction or nonfiction as long as it’s a good story) about life in a cult/fundamentalist religious group. Interested in anything, but particularly interested in topics such as: polygamy/patriarchal dynamics, stories of ‘lost boys’/cast outs (I’m interested in their lives in their communities as well as what happens to them once they’re on their own and if they keep in contact with the group), leadership/politics/infighting within the group, stories of any criminal activities or enterprises they run to either keep their group afloat or that further the belief system of the group.
by UnoriginalRabbit
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Oranges are not the only fruit by Jeanette Winterson is the story of a gay teenage girl growing up in a fundamentalist Christian group in a small English town.
Plain Truth by Jodie Picoult is about the Armish community. It’s been ages since I read it, but I remember it being good.
From google- Plain Truth is a 2000 novel by Jodi Picoult about a murder case in an Amish community in Pennsylvania, focusing on the collision of Amish culture with the modern legal system. The story follows a big-city lawyer, Ellie Hathaway, who defends Katie Fisher, an 18-year-old Amish woman accused of murdering her newborn baby, whose body is found in a barn. The novel explores themes of faith, justice, and cultural differences as Ellie must navigate the “plain” world to uncover the truth, while also confronting personal issues from her own past
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
A Billion Years by Mike Rinder
A Well Trained Wife by Tia Levings
Recently read Leah Remini’s book about Scientology and sounds like it might be interesting to you! It’s called “Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology.”
Also recommend “Under the Banner of Heaven” by Jon Krakauer for a deep dive on Mormonism (which I consider a cult)
Depending on your view of term cult, “Under the Banner of Heaven” by Jon Krakauer about the history or Mormonism was incredible. And of course hits on a lot of the ick you’d get from any other recently invented beliefs. Just a really engaging read too.
“Whit” by Iain Banks is about a fictional cult and follows a girl purported to be God’s Chosen as she leaves the compound for the first time to find her lost cousin in the real world.
Educated – Tara Westover
The Sound of Gravel is a memoir by Ruth Wariner
The Book of Essie
Escape
A Well Trained Wife
*The Man-Leopard Murders: History and Society in Colonial Nigeria* by David Pratten.
*Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders* by Vincent Bugliosi.
Dark Squares: How Chess Saved My Life by Danny Rensch might be of interest, a newer one, he grew up on a Christian fundamentalist cult.
The Poisonwood Bible was really good – not necessarily about a cult, but I felt that it touched on evangelical, colonialist ideas really well.
I recently read *CHAOS* by Tom O’Neill with Dan Piepenbring, it’s about the Manson Family, but takes a series of fascinating digressions trying to nail down what was going on around the Family.
I also recently read *The Road To Jonestown* by Jeff Guin. It’s a really solid journalistic biography of Jim Jones. It tells the whole story of the People’s Temple and covers a lot of ground about what living with the Temple was like.
Fiction- A History of Wild Places
Jesus and John Wayne
His Favorite Wife
Sound of Gravel
Blown For Good: Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology
Dirt Beneath Our Door
Daughter of Gloriavale: My Life in a Religious Cult
Escape
The Witness Wore Red
Breaking Free: How I Escaped Polygamy, the FLDS Cult, and My Father, Warren Jeffs
An Untrained Wife
Counting On
A Well Trained Wife
Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement
Lovingly Abused: A true story of overcoming cults, gaslighting, and legal educational neglect
Predators, Prey, and Other Kinfolk: Growing Up in Polygamy
Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist’s Wife
The Polygamist’s Daughter: A Memoir
I have plenty more recommendations. This genre is my jam.
The Colony by Annika Norlin. Translated from Swedish:
This award-winning novel from Sweden intertwines the story of Emelie, a journalist suffering from burnout, and the misfits she discovers in rural Sweden. To combat job fatigue, Emelie goes to her grandmother’s house in the forest, which she loved visiting as a child. As she adjusts to the silence, mosquitoes, and solitude, she notices a strange group of people bathing in the lake and wandering through the forest. Emelie finally meets Lake, the youngest member of the Ant Colony, as they call themselves, although Emelie calls them hippies. The narrative then shifts to the members of the colony with their personal stories, including Ersmo, who owns the land they live on; Sara, the enigmatic leader of the group; Sagne, the entomologist who keeps to herself; and Zakaria, the beautiful, young man on the run. Their stories reveal backgrounds of pain and alienation. Their fateful meeting with Emelie leads to both tragedy and hope. Norlin, in her debut, comments on contemporary society, the environment, and the fragile nature of belonging through her characters and their interactions. For readers of literary fiction who love nuanced characters and stylistically complex novels with a sense of humor and sharp insight into the problems of modern society.
Women Talking by Miriam Towes. It’s a fictionalized account based on true events that happened in a Mennonite community in South America, where a group of men were systematically raping women in their community. The rest of the men leave to bail the perpetrators out of jail and the women meet and discuss how to respond. A tough read but phenomenal.
Try Uncultured by Danielle Young. She was raised in a fundamentalist religious group. She’s a good writer who’s reporting some hard to read experiences.
Unveiled by Yasmine Mohammed. This is a memoir. Yasmine grew up in a fundamentalist Muslim household in Canada and was married off to a man who was a terrorist. She escaped the marriage with her young daughter.
There is a strong subplot in The Unnamed Midwife that deals with this.
“Hippie Food” (non-fiction) discusses The Source Family and “A Dimmed Devotion” (fiction) discusses an artist that started a cult.
Sex Cult Nun by Faith Jones, memoir of her childhood in the Children of God cult and
In the Days of Rain by Rebecca Stott, focussed on the Exclusive Brethren and both her own and her father coming to terms with his involvement and the fallout from breaking away.
The bible
Prophet of Death: The Mormon Blood-Atonement Killings by Pete Earley. About the Jeffrey Lundgren cult.
The 4 O’clock Murders by Scott Anderson. The Ervil LeBaron cult.
The Chosen One. Carol Lynch Williams. Told in first person. Thirteen-year old Kyra must escape the isolated polygamous religious cult she was raised in because she is being forced to marry her uncle.