Carolyn Jessop follows up on her book Escape with Triumph. The book is divided into 2 parts, one part being her struggle to overcome her demons, ie the FLDS and Merril Jessop and start a new life with her children and a new man she has fallen in love with. He is very good to her. She talks about going to Curves fitness centre and taking care of her body and being proud of it. In the FLDS, all women wore the same clothes, the same hairdo and they were always pregnant. She also discusses making new friends and learning to trust people.
The second part to her book, deals with her being asked to be a consultant in regards to the FLDS beliefs, their customs, etc after the raid by the authorities and child services on the Yearning For Zion (YRZ) ranch in Texas. Warren Jeffs had started to built a ranch in Texas were they were not well known. They built it under fall pretenses. He sent his most trusted men to built it of which Merril Jessop became the most senior and trusted in the ranch. The men were allowed to bring their wives and children. Some of the workers were unwed teenage boys. It brought back memories to see her ex-husband and his children which she knew there.
The raid happened as a result of a hoax. A women called the police saying she was 16, pregnant and being beaten by her 50 years old husband. She wanted to leave and needed help. She claimed to be in the YFZ ranch. The authorities could not ignore her cry for help so they set up a raid on the ranch. They never expected what they saw. First, there was a lot of 16 years old, pregnant and none of them wanted to talk to them. There was pregnant girls even younger. there was a lot of children. In Texas, it is illegal to have intercourse with a girl younger than 17 that is not your wife. Since polygamy is illegal, there was a lot of raped girls. The authorities took in over 400 children. In a 6 week period, it cost Texas 3 million dollars just in foster care and related issues. When the raid and investigation of Merril Jessop, Warren Jeffs and company was finished, it cost the state more than 12 million dollars, They did get confictions against the men but the large majority of the kids were returned to their abusive and/or ignorant parents. Texas did not have the money, man power or foster care homes to deal with all the children and the psycological problems they had.
There is hope that at some point, the FLDS will be brought down.
I very good book to read for anyone interested in the FLDS.