Triumph: Life After the Cult--A Survivor's Lessons

Great book except it ended on page 270 appears my copy is missing some pages.

I was just as impressed with this book, "Triumph" as I was with her first book, "Escape." I recommend to read both!!!

After reading Escape I was obsessed with knowing the rest of the story. Now I will be watching to see what happens in Merrils trial in October. I am just so beyond happy for this family, and how they have adjusted and triumphed! Carolyn is my new hero. She has started a movement to create a better life for a lot of people.

I think that this book surpasses Carolyn's original book, because it shows that not only did she escape from polygamy, she and her children are flourishing in the world. Her oldest son is in college and a pilot. He could not have accomplished this if his mother hadn't had the courage to leave the stifling world of the FLDS. Her oldest daughter may have returned to the cult, but her 2nd daughter graduated from high school and dreams of becoming an attorney so she can help those who can't help themselves. That says a lot. Carolyn also gives tips and tools to those who need to overcome adversity. She's believable because she's lived it.

In her first book Carolyn Jessop details her life, her marriage to Merill Jessop, the birth of her eight children and their escape in 2003. This book details her life after the escape. After the raid on the Texas FLDS Compound Carolyn was asked to fly down to Texas to help investigators and the CPS to better understand the mindset of the people of the FLDS. Carolyn brought her two younger daughters to show their half-siblings that they did not have to worry about the outside world. They were worried because at least 8 of Merill's daughters by several other wives were taken during the raid. Shortly after the raid Carolyn was involved in several court cases dealing with the raid and the FLDS. One of them involved her former step-daughter who was married to Warren Jeffs when he was 50 and she was 12. Carolyn testified about abuse that she witnessed from the girls mother Barbara. Prosecutors wanted to take both of Barbara's underage children from her, but only ended up getting the daughter who married Warren removed leaving Barbara with her 11 year old son. The other case dealt with money. After Carolyn escaped with her children Merill did not pay her any money to help support their children. Carolyn knew that he had the money and that he was hiding some, but after the escape she did not have the financial resources to go after him. After the raid she knew would be a good time to iron out the money that Carolyn felt Merill owed her and their children. Their daughter Luanne as well as Carolyn's father testified. After the case was settled Carolyn got to see her daughter Betty who had returned to the FLDS two days after her 18th birthday. This part of the book also details how the raid effected her children. During this time her older children would get calls from their half-siblings still in the FLDS which were very hard on them because the siblings would attack Carolyn. It also brought back bad memories of abuse, both physical and sexual, that happened to her children by their half siblings (who used the raid to their advantage in print and television stories.) The second part of the book details the things that Carolyn learned along the way that helped her once she escaped. All in all a very inspirational story about a woman who faced adversary and overcame it and learned something from it.

Carolyn Jessop's book entitled Escape was an interesting look at life in a polygomus cult in the middle of the United States. Her daring escape with eight children in tow was amazing and hard to believe in our culture today. Triumph is about her activities during the Texas rescue of the FLDS children, her lessons in life that carried her into the free world and some entertaining ancedotes during her life as the FLDS Texas Bishop's youngest wife. My favorite was about Carolyn and her friends sneaking off to work out at Curves. In Triumph, Carolyn details what it took to succeed and break away from the FLDS, how she found true love with an extraordinary man, how each of her children developed into their own person and the heartbreak of her eldest daughter returning to the cult after her eighteenth birthday. She doesn't sugar coat her struggles, but really gives readers concrete tools that anyone can use to overcome adversity in their lives. A truly enjoyable well written book with grace and charm.