Not In My House

I grew up the 23rd of 46 children in a secret polygamist family -six mothers, one father and a big white house in the middle of Salt Lake City where no one knew we existed. Hidden and homeschooled, we were perfectly isolated. And isolation is a breeding ground for abuse.

While my father worked, his third wife ruled the family. I was one of the "willfully disobedient" children and that landed me in her crosshairs. Was my father turning a blind eye or was he behind it? Why did my own mother take direction from a woman half her age?

I thought escape meant a family of my own. But the past clung to me like a shadow and when it finally caught up with me, what I found was nothing like I figured.

Not In My House is the story of how evil is perpetuated, how shame is seared into the next generation like a family crest and how one's own past can never be escaped.