Educated: The Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling memoir - Hardcover

Tara Westover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1786330512 ISBN 13: 9781786330512

Publisher: Hutchinson, 2020

Synopsis

'A memoir to stand alongside classics by the likes of Jeanette Winterson and Lorna Sage ... a compelling and ultimately joyous account of self-determination' Sunday Times Tara Westover grew up preparing for the End of Days, watching for the sun to darken, for the moon to drip as if with blood. She spent her summers bottling peaches and her winters rotating emergency supplies, hoping that when the World of Men failed, her family would continue on, unaffected. She hadn't been registered for a birth certificate. She had no school records because she'd never set foot in a classroom, and no medical records because her father didn't believe in doctors or hospitals. According to the state and federal government, she didn't exist. As she grew older, her father became more radical, and her brother, more violent. At sixteen Tara decided to educate herself. Her struggle for knowledge would take her far from her Idaho mountains, over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she'd travelled too far. If there was still a way home. EDUCATED is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty, and of the grief that comes with the severing of the closest of ties. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, from her singular experience Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes, and the will to change it.

About this title

About the Author

Tara Westover was born in rural Idaho. She studied history at Brigham Young University and upon graduation was awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. She received an MPhil in intellectual history from Trinity College, Cambridge in 2009, and a PhD in the same subject in 2014.

Review

"A memoir to stand alongside classics by the likes of Jeanette Winterson and Lorna Sage . . . a compelling and ultimately joyous account of self-determination" * Sunday Times * "A dazzling example of what you can achieve if you set your mind to something...an inspirational, truly unique coming-of-age tale" * BBC Ones to Watch in 2018 * "[A] superb memoir... Westover's journey from a remote corner of the American west to one of the world's grandest seats of learning is extraordinary . . . Her story, of fighting to be herself, is as old as the hills she came from, but Westover gives us such a fresh, absorbing take that it deserves to bring her own private Idaho into the bestseller lists, book groups and, eventually, cinemas." * The Times * "Westover has a story to tell that shouldn't be ignored" * The Guardian * "Her story is remarkable, as each extreme anecdote described in tidy prose attests. That someone who grew up in her circumstances could achieve as much as she has is astonishing . . . The central tension she wrestles with throughout her book is how to be true to herself without alienating her family. Her upbringing was extraordinary, but that struggle is not." * The Economist * "This memoir [is] one of the wisest accounts of family love and betrayal that I've read" * Mail on Sunday * "Heartbreaking in its honesty...[an] intelligent and powerful memoir" * Literary Review * "An astonishing and uplifting story about the transformative power of education" * Mail on Sunday, 2018 Cultural Highlights * "This fiercely intelligent memoir is a fascinating and compassionate view of another world and the author's struggle to both escape from and understand it as she heads out into the world" * The Pool, Ones to Watch in 2018 * "A shocking and powerfully moving memoir" * Daily Express * "What comes through is Tara's grit, determination and instinctive sense that somewhere within education lies her redemption ... There is pain and adversity in this heart-wrenching memoir but ultimately what Tara leaves us with is hope" * Sunday Express * "Educated is an unflinching account of love and brutality, of the strength of blood ties and the power of imagination, and of a young woman whose intellect, self-knowledge and courage illuminate every page. There are passages so painfully vivid that they sear themselves into the memory, yet Westover is never prurient or punitive: even when writing from the depths, she does so with compassion and grace. Both the book and its writer are remarkable in every respect" -- Sarah Perry, bestselling author of THE ESSEX SERPENT

Edition details

• Publisher: Hutchinson
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1786330512
• ISBN 13: 9781786330512
• Binding: Hardcover