There have been a number of memoirs coming out in recent years from former members of the second generation of the Children of God (the Family), that is, children born or led into the group at a young age by their parents. Faith Jones, now an accomplished lawyer doing lots of impressive-sounding international work as well as a TED speaker, writes a haunting but wholly compelling saga of her childhood in the group, mainly living on their farm compound in Macau with stints elsewhere, like Thailand and Japan. It covers the time until her entry into college in the United States, including her family’s various punishments when falling out of favor and exiles from the Family over the years.

She’s actually creepy founder David Berg’s biological granddaughter, although she never even met him. Everything about this group is so strange, and Jones shows so clearly what living under it was like. This might be one of the best examples I’ve encountered of what the inner workings and day-to-day life in such a group is actually like. Like others who have managed to get away from cults and abusive upbringings, education was a major motivator and driver of change for Jones, and her accomplishments considering where and how she started are nothing short of incredible.

Her relationship with her mother really resonated with me – not the sex parts (and oh my god, what her mother lets her see and do! I shrieked and cringed and felt sick) but the extremes of a pal-type friendship and yet her mother’s teasing at Faith’s expense. I hadn’t quite seen this explored before the way it was here and it captured the dynamic of that weird kind of relationship so well.

Actually everything here is exceptionally well done, and Jones is a truly beautiful and skilled writer. She manages to write convincingly from a child’s perspective as well as from her adult one, and she explores so much about what she thinks of certain experiences now, with hard-earned perspective. It manages to be funny and incredibly touching even as it’s sometimes completely horrifying (fair warning – it’s often explicit: Jones was sexually abused more times than I can count). But her writing is eloquent and she’s clearly very intelligent and well-adjusted, so it ends up feeling more inspiring than upsetting.

There’s been some questioning about the “nun” aspect of the title, as Jones never actually becomes a Catholic nun, let’s get that out of the way. She explains that her existence was nun-like, devoted entirely to Christ at great personal sacrifice, even as she had to live in a hypersexualized atmosphere and was encouraged to submit to men whenever they wanted, whether she did or not. So I thought the juxtaposition worked quite well and that it was a pretty fair assessment of what this must have felt like for her.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Wow. I am at a loss on how to review this book. There are really 3 parts:

1. The description of how the author was treated by this very evil cult as a child. This section is very hard to read, both due to the general evil, & the author's emotionless tone & descriptions which makes the child abuse (both sexual & otherwise) & manipulation of non cult members sound acceptable. I THINK her tone was to demonstrate how she was feeling as child & in some ways shows the evil more clearly as a result. Her tone changes changes significantly as the book progresses.

2. Where the author starts to get a clue that something isn't quite right in Jesus paradise..

3. Where the author amazingly turns into a successful lawyer & figures out more of her personal growth issues than I've ever dreamed of (& I've been involved in the human potential movement for almost 50 years!).

The book was also hard for me as I am somewhat spiritual but I despise ALL organized religion. As the author realizes at the end of the book her former cult & Christianity in general was created by humans, not God; & it's often there so the powerful remain powerful. I also feel very strongly in a similar manner about corporations, Most politicians, fascists, & the far right.

The book did reminded me of a brief period in my mid 20's where I was involved as the guitar player for a band of a local Seattle cult called the "Love Family" I never interacted with most of the cult, just the musicians, but even that was numbing (I did this because I was a professional musician who had taken a couple years off & I needed a pretty low quality band to accept my low quality playing so I could get my chops back. I also was a heavy drinker at that time). I got my guitar chops back in 3 months or so & I left.

I don't know if "The Love Family" was related to her group, "The Family" There were several things I did see in common (taking biblical names, polygamous marriages with it always being 1 male & multiple females), but if there was child abuse I was totally unaware of it. Women were generally very subservient, though; similar to what the author dealt with. Again, I have no detailed knowledge, & other than drinking to much, I really did nothing wrong. I am very curious if the 2 groups were related as they seem to have a lot in common.

This book brought back those memories. I hadn't though of that experience in decades.

Rating this in stars is difficult for me. The first 1/3 - 1/2 was extremely hard to read; than it became more interesting. I am glad that most of the worst perpetrators are dead. There is a significant amount of disturbing (R rated) sexual content, and not just with children. I think the content was necessary for the author to tell her story.

I kind of said this earlier, but I liked that in the end, the author realized that there is a good chance much of the bible isn't accurate. I personally have stronger negative feelings than that; but with her background, that was a huge step.

Trigger warning: sexual abuse, pedophilia, rape

Faith Jones, whose grandfather founded and led the Children of God cult, gives a harrowing account of her upbringing as a member of the cult. The book is very disturbing in so many ways. There are graphic descriptions of abuse, including sexual abuse of children. It was pretty terrifying to read about and I found it hard to get through some of the more disturbing portions of the book because the subject matter was so unsettling. Faith delves deep into the beliefs of the cult, how members were manipulated, abused, and controlled, and how that abusive behavior continued throughout generations of members.

I didn't feel the graphic depictions were there for shock value, but rather to shed light on how deeply harmful and traumatic these experiences had been for so many. Still, some of it I wish I had only skimmed through instead of reading word for word, just because of the subject matter. It actually made me feel physically ill many times. The thought that people genuinely bought into the idea that rape is a way of sharing love, and that saying no isn't okay, was really difficult for me.

I was glad to see Faith navigate her way into society outside of the cult where she could assess her life, set and achieve goals, and work on coming to terms with the way she was raised. There were many times in the book where I thought "She's almost free!" So when she finally was able to get herself out, it was wonderful to watch her growth. I found myself really inspired by her strength and bravery.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is intense. Like many other readers have probably noticed, it can get graphic, and uncomfortably so. I enjoyed the pure honesty this book and the author have to offer on such a frightening and personal subject. Very well written, if almost too descriptive at some points. I'm sure writing this book was therapeutic, but I assure you that reading it will not be.

This was an interesting and well laid out examination of the author's time with the Children of God. It reminded me a bit of Educated by Tara Westover, as the author broke away from the beliefs she was immersed in throughout her formative years, but education helped give her room to grow, expand, and improve her life.

CW: child rape, rape, incest, sexual abuse, physical abuse, religious abuse

This was a hard book to read and review, but once I started I couldn't put it down. Faith is the granddaughter of the founder and leader of The Children of God - a cult with tens of thousands "missionaries" who are committed to spreading what they believe is God's love. It's hard to fathom how anyone can be led to believe the things that tens of thousands in this group do, but in the way that Faith explains her experiences it is certainly made more understandable.

What starts as a very sad and disillusioned recounting of her childhood turns into an inspiring and amazing view of Faith's ability to overcome and find peace in her adulthood. There are still questions left unanswered as well as some loose ends that weren't tied up, but overall Faith did a thorough job of sharing her story and her truth.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow and Custom House for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Really harrowing account of resilience and recovery in the face of extreme trauma. Jones account of growing up in the Children of God is riveting and at times shocking...The amount of self-reflection in the prose is insightful and leaves the reader rooting for her the whole time.

Trigger warning: child rape, adolescent rape, teen rape, and adult rape.

This was not a light book to read. But it is well written and gut-wrenching, I am drawn to books about cults and this was one I didn't know much about. Faith Jones is the granddaughter of the founder and leader of The Children of God cult. They taught girls was all ages that it was not ok to say no to whatever a man wanted.

Faith did a great job sharing her story. I am sorry that she went through all of this but I am glad she shed light on this horrible cult.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger warning: child rape, adolescent rape, teen rape and adult rape.

Not an easy book to read nor to review. There had to be ten times where I almost put the book aside. Faith Jones is the granddaughter of the founder and leader of The Children of God cult with tens of thousands missionaries spreading (their version of) the word of God's Love. Unfortunately, the Children of God's definition of sharing love includes pimping out the women to entice donations and membership; encouraging sexual intercourse with young children (with older adults and amongst the kids themselves); wives sleeping with other men so the men felt loved; telling the girls/women that it isn't nice to not share their bodies even if they don't wont to; etc.

I have always been drawn to cult books. I cannot fathom how tens of thousands of people joined The Children of God when its pamphlets and books explicitly discussed and encouraged child sexual abuse. I haven’t googled much about the cult but I hope that many of them have gone to jail. This is so upsetting.

All that being said, Faith Jones did a wonderful job detailing her life, her relationship with her parents and siblings, her relationship with God, and her insatiable desire to learn despite the cult saying a sixth grade education is sufficient.