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| Author | Elissa Wall |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | William Morrow |
Publication date | May 13, 2008 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 448 |
| ISBN | 978-0-06-162801-6 |
Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs is an autobiography by American author Elissa Wall detailing her childhood in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and subsequent later life outside of the church. It was first published by William Morrow and Company in 2008.
Wall was born into a polygamous family in Salt Lake City and grew up attending the FLDS-run Alta Academy. She describes her living situation as tense; familial relations were further complicated when her mother was reassigned to marry another man in Hildale, Utah. FLDS leaders orchestrated a marriage between Wall, then 14, and her 19-year-old cousin, Allen Steed, an arrangement she vehemently opposed. During their four-year marriage, Steed abused her sexually and psychologically, and Wall eventually began an affair with Lamont Barlow, a 25-year-old former member of the FLDS. Barlow later persuaded her to leave the church and to press charges against Steed and Warren Jeffs, the FLDS "prophet" who performed the wedding ceremony.
Stolen Innocence sold well, reaching number six on the New York Times bestseller list,[1] but received mixed reviews. Critics were interested in the story but criticized Wall's writing style. Sharp Independent and Killer Films optioned the film rights shortly after its publication and discussed possibly creating a movie adaption of the book.[2]