A Buzzfeed Best Book of September
Daniella Mestyanek Young was raised in the religious cult The Children of God, also known as The Family, as the daughter of high-ranking members. She suffers physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and is forbidden from getting a traditional education. At 15, Daniella escapes. She enrolls herself in high school and excels, later graduating as valedictorian of her college class, then electing to join the military. Told in a beautiful, propulsive voice, Uncultured explores the dangers unleashed when harmful group mentality goes unrecognized and is emblematic of the many ways women have to contort themselves to survive.