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''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 claims to have vehemently opposed. During their four-year marriage, Steed allegedly 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,〔 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.〔 == Background == Elissa Wall was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on July 7, 1986 to Douglas and Sharon Wall, both members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=A battle for Bountiful's children )〕 The FLDS is a Mormon denomination that split from the mainstream Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS) following the latter's decision to outlaw polygamy in the early 20th century. Wall's family practiced polygamy, and Sharon was the second of three wives. As is typical among the FLDS, Wall's parents produced a large number of children, with Lloyd having 24 children in total and 14 by Sharon. Female members of the FLDS wore "long pioneer style dresses" and styled their hair in traditional buns and braids. The mandated undergarments covered their full form, "from the wrist to the ankle and right up to the neck", while makeup, tattoos, and piercings were not permitted.〔 Wall, along with other FLDS children, grew up attending the Alta Academy, which was owned and run by the church. Warren Jeffs, a leader in the community, read from the Book of Mormon at eight in the morning. "No matter what age you were, you were expected to attend and take notes," said Wall. "It was a very religious education...As a child in that society, you hung on every word. I remember believing in it so much it would almost consume me."〔 She later referred to her education as "brainwashing".〔 The first major crisis in Wall's early life occurred when she was 13 and her mother was reassigned to marry another man, Fred Jessop.〔 Wall, along with her mother and sisters, moved to Hildale in the year 2000. The new family was particularly large, so the children were required to eat meals in shifts.〔 She compared the experience to starting a new school in terms of aspects of life that she had to become re-accustomed to.〔 Over time, several of her brothers and sisters left or were expelled from the church.〔 In 2001, FLDS leader Rulon Jeffs arranged for a then 14-year-old Wall to marry her 19-year-old cousin, Allen Steed.〔 Wall stated that she despised her cousin and asked that she be given more time or another possible husband. Her stepfather, mother, and older sister, Rebecca Musser, were supportive of the marriage and encouraged her to go through with it, with the latter two sewing her wedding dress and organizing her honeymoon. She and Steed were married at the Hotsprings Motel in Caliente, Nevada.〔 Warren Jeffs, who had previously insisted that the wedding move forward, performed the ceremony.〔 Wall describes the marriage as traumatic and claims that it included frequent rapes and miscarriages.〔 She recounts that she did not receive any sex education while in school and as a result was unable to understand her husband's advances.〔 As her marriage with her cousin fell apart, she began to spend nights sleeping in her truck, and at that point met former FLDS member Lamont Barlow.〔 Wall, then 17,〔 began an affair with the then 25-year-old Barlow, who encouraged her to leave the church with him.〔 The affair was eventually uncovered when she became pregnant by him, and Jeffs had the marriage to Steed annulled. Wall left the FLDS with Barlow and they later married, having two children together.〔 In 2006, Wall pressed charges against Jeffs, who was put on the FBI's Most Wanted list. He was arrested in August of the same year while travelling in Nevada "in a red Cadillac found to contain $54,000 in cash, 15 mobile phones, three iPods, laptop computers, a police scanner, a stack of credit cards and two female wigs, one blonde and one brunette".〔 While testifying, Wall was referred to as Jane Doe IV, though she later asked that her name be published. In September 2007, Jeffs was convicted for two counts of being an accomplice to rape.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Stolen Innocence」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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