An extraordinary memoir about a woman’s discovery of education, its transformative power and the price she has to pay for it

THE MULTI-MILLION COPY BESTSELLER

Selected as a book of the year by AMAZON, THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, NEW YORK TIMES, ECONOMIST, NEW STATESMAN, VOGUE, IRISH TIMES, IRISH EXAMINER and RED MAGAZINE

‘One of the best books I have ever read . . . unbelievably moving’ Elizabeth Day
‘An extraordinary story, beautifully told’ Louise O’Neill
‘A memoir to stand alongside the classics . . . compelling and joyous’Sunday Times

Tara Westover grew up preparing for the end of the world. She was never put in school, never taken to the doctor She did not even have a birth certificate until she was nine years old ?

At sixteen, to escape her father’s radicalism and a violent older brother, Tara left home. What followed was a struggle for self-invention, a journey that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers- the perspective to see one’s life through new eyes, and the will to change it.

‘It will make your heart soar’ Guardian
‘Jaw-dropping and inspiring, everyone should read this book’ Stylist
‘Absolutely superb . . . so gripping I could hardly breathe’ Sophie Hannah