Befreit

From the mountains of Idaho to Cambridge – the unlikely educational journey of Tara Westover, a true and universal story. Tara Westover is 17 years old when she first enters a classroom. Ten years later, she boasts an impressive academic career. Growing up in rural America, she frees herself from a poor, archaic world marked by paranoia and violence through education, by acquiring knowledge that had been withheld from her for so long. The mountains of Idaho are Tara's home; as a child, she lives in harmony with the magnificent nature, the changing seasons, and the laws set by her father. He is a fundamentalist Mormon, convinced of the imminent end of the world and full of distrust towards the government, which he believes is persecuting him. Tara and her siblings do not attend school, they have no birth certificates, and a doctor is never called, even in the case of terrible injuries. And such injuries are frequent, as the children must help with the heavy work at their father's junkyard to make ends meet. Tara's mother, the only midwife in the area, heals wounds with her herbs. Nothing is further from this world than education. Yet, Tara finds the strength to prepare for the college entrance exam, even though she has to start from virtually nothing. How Tara Westover frees herself from this world, develops a sense of self, and navigates the painful process of severing ties with her family is described in this moving and beautifully poetic book.