One young woman’s freedom depends on her cunning and courage to leave everything she’s ever known, including her family, behind.
Lili Stallworth’s family joins a new religious group. At first the family seems happier. They have new friends and a renewed sense of meaning in their lives. The whole family joins the group’s eminent leader at his farm in Virginia where many of the other group’s members live and work. The setting is idyllic.
But… Lili begins to notice something sinister is being kept from the group’s members. Secrets are being protected by the group’s upper echelon elders and the eminent leader himself. What they are hiding and what they would do to Lili if she exposed them becomes a cat and mouse game of who has the most control.
About Me- Stacy Lee
I suppose I wanted what everyone wants– to love and be loved. But getting to that point; well, that’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride.
My mom, having been abused as a kid, developed a personality disorder. Whether she’s Narcissistic, Borderline, or Histrionic I’m not sure. You pick. The end result was her continuing the abusive cycle by abusing me.
Then, just so I would never lack for reasons to go to therapy, she, and later my dad, joined a strict religious cult when I was 2 years old. I escaped the cult when I was 28. Per the cult’s rules, all of my family and friends who were in the cult then abandoned and rejected me. So that was fun.
At that point, while I was scared and very vulnerable, I met a charismatic and attractive man I married and stayed with for 20 years. The rub was– he turned out to be a narcissistically personality disordered psychopath who had a fondness for bashing my head into things. Good times.
The best news is that I’m free now! Free to find joy, bask in peace, and just be. On this blog I tell the journey of all the things that hurt and all the things that helped with cult recovery, narcissistic abuse, and abusive relationship recovery. I sincerely hope some of it appeals to, helps, or at least entertains you.
Shine it on!
Gary A
“Cult Girl is a captivating story of a girl approaching womanhood whose life changes when her family adopts a new religion with ever-changing rules – rules that are designed to control. De Young masterfully paints a provocative tale that combines surprise, madness, sadness, love and hope that builds to a great conclusion of a life reclaimed.”
Dave S
“This story moved me, often in unexpected ways. The author knows from real life experience, the pain of cult-induced trauma. As well as her life experiences and learning of the topic, Ms. DeYoung offers us a window into a disconnected, isolated experience, as well as a path to healing and recovery. This novel resonates beyond the understanding of “cult” as we understand that to be.”
Deborah T
“While Cult Girl is a work of fiction, the descriptions about life in a cult like The Brethren on which the story is built are all too real. The author presents so many situations that parallel my own real-life experiences, having lived in a similar, misogynistic cult for over 20 years. Independent thinking and questioning the cult’s authority were, and continue to be, punishable because they threaten the cult’s very existence. The author gets the point across in a direct and touching way. I applaud her ability to tell her story. I’m so proud of Lili!”
Willem D
“Just finished the book in one sitting. I loved it, very entertaining and yet straight to the point about the horrible details of the Cult. I rooted for Lili to get out of there from the early beginning of her quest So recommend this little gem of a “truth” book.”