Educated
Author(s): Tara Westover
For readers of The Glass Castle and Wild, a stunning new memoir about family, loss and the struggle for a better future
#1 International Bestseller
Tara Westover was seventeen when she first set foot in a classroom. Instead of traditional lessons, she grew up learning how to stew herbs into medicine, scavenging in the family scrap yard and helping her family prepare for the apocalypse. She had no birth certificate and no medical records and had never been enrolled in school.
Westover’s mother proved a marvel at concocting folk remedies for many ailments. As Tara developed her own coping mechanisms, little by little, she started to realize that what her family was offering didn’t have to be her only education. Her first day of university was her first day in school—ever—and she would eventually win an esteemed fellowship from Cambridge and graduate with a PhD in intellectual history and political thought.
Review(s):
“This remarkable story of triumphing over a survivalist upbringing is fit to stand alongside the great modern memoirs . . . Powerful . . . a compelling and ultimately joyous account of self-determination.”
“Tara Westover is living proof that some people are flat-out, boots-always-laced-up indomitable . . . a heartbreaking, heartwarming, best-in-years memoir.”
“Memoirs of difficult childhoods have a high bar to cross these days, but Westover’s struggle to make sense of the world and of her upbringing sails right over.”
“Astounding . . . Westover examines her childhood with unsparing clarity, and, more startlingly, with curiosity and love, even for those who have seriously failed or wronged her.”
“Extraordinary.”
“A powerful story of triumph and perseverance.”
“Incredible . . . a powerful book . . . beautiful.”
“The extremity of Westover’s upbringing emerges gradually through her telling, which only makes the telling more alluring and harrowing.”
“Jaw dropping.”
“Fascinating . . . this book is a testament to willpower and freedom in knowledge.”
LibraryReads #1 Pick, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Indigo Best Books of the Year, National Book Critics Circle Award, John Leonard Award for Best First Book, IBW Book Award, Amazon.ca Best Book of the Year, Publishers Weekly Best Book, The Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Indigo's Best Books of the Decade, Washington Post Best Book, TIME Magazine’s Best Nonfiction Books of the Year, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize, American Library Association’s 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, PEN/Jean Stein Award, ALA Alex Award, Audio Publisher’s Association “Audie” Award, Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers for Non-Fiction, Wellcome Book Prize, Indie Choice Awards
ISBN: 9781443452472